Iridescence
by olympicmayhem
Summary: You wished for a new life in college: new friends, probably a love interest, but your life turned a hundred and eighty degrees when you meet the blond guy with purple eyes and the white-haired narcissist. And what's with that redhead? [COLLEGE AU...or is it?] [RATED M FOR MENTIONS OF SUICIDE AND SEX AMONG OTHERS]
1. Wave I

**A/N: AU shizz. Gonna use the name Park Joohyun for MC even though this is 2nd POV.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Mystic Messenger or any of its characters.**

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It was your first day at Yonsei University. Your parents were so proud of you getting into one of the SKY universities that they never stopped bragging about it to your neighbors. You even had to cover your face with a face mask just so the neighbors wouldn't see you. You thought that it was just lucky that face masks are a thing in the country.

The night before term starts, you were restless, rolling from one side of the bed to the other and then back again. You'd sit up, grab your new MCM bag (the one your mother got you when you told her you got into Yonsei), and check to see if you've missed anything. Then you'd grab the innocent phone lying on the bedside table and check to see if you turned on the alarm before hitting the volume up even though it's already on max. Feeling satisfied, you'd place the phone where you first got it and plop back to bed. But the process repeats again.

You wake up the next day with bags under your eyes that you try to conceal with an eye cream you thankfully bought from the nearest Etude branch just the other day. You check yourself out in the mirror, decked out in comfortable black leggings, a cute long-sleeved baby blue mini dress, a beanie, and black sneakers. Satisfied with your look, you grab the studded bag on the floor and sling it on your shoulder. Your parents asked if you wanted to hitch a ride but you declined, telling them you'd just catch the train. You leave with a wave and your parents respond with two thumbs up and you're off.

You barely caught the train, having to push yourself in between the doors just to get in. You breathe a sigh of relief and leaned against the door, watching as the Hangang River comes into sight. You plug your earphones and put your playlist on shuffle, EXO's Love Me Right suddenly filling your ears. You drum your fingers on the steel railing you were grabbing on to while you silently sing along to the music.

You were so into the music you barely heard the intercom, announcing your stop, and you had to squeeze yourself between people getting inside to get out. You jogged all the way to the university, checking your wristwatch all the time. You didn't even realize somebody was in front of you, so dangerously close to you, until your head made contact with his back.

"Oomph," you heard yourself say, as your left leg takes a step backward to regain your balance. The person whose back you bumped into turned around and you can see blond hair over purple eyes. You think that the blond hair can't be natural and decided that it must be dyed, which just makes you realize just how different college is compared to high school. Your old high school wouldn't have allowed that bright color. Maybe you should dye your hair pink. Or blue. You see the boy with the dyed blond hair still staring at you and you realize that you haven't apologized yet. Your cheeks slightly color as you give a bow and a slightly muttered apology.

You look up to see a smile plastered on his sweet, angelic face and you couldn't help but smile as well. He offered you a hand that you hesitantly shook before proclaiming his name to be Kim Yoosung. Your smile grows, and you respond by telling him your name. He repeats your name, tasting it on his mouth, his smile never once disappearing, and he tells you that you have a beautiful name before asking you where you're headed.

You told him that you're headed to Wonju Campus, and you watch his lips stretch out wider as he informs you that he's headed to the same building and that you can go together if you want to. You agree, nodding your head enthusiastically, and the two of you head off to the said campus, with you listening as he started gushing on about how lucky he was to be attending this prestigious university and how his parents shouted on top of Namsan that their son passed his entrance exam. You laugh at all the right moments, secretly thanking your lucky stars for giving you a friend this quick. You were never good at making friends ever since you first entered middle school (having been homeschooled during elementary school) and has always been that kind of person who stays inside the classroom during lunch to eat alone while reading a paperback.

When you graduated from high school you promised yourself that you'd change and make your years in college worth looking back to once you're old, and it looks like you're off to a promising start. The two of you stop in front of the campus. He asked which class you were going to take first and you informed him that you have anatomy for first period. He began comparing schedules with you, his smile slightly vanishing, as you both realize that you have no similar class for the whole day, but the smile was back as soon as it was gone and he told you that he'd be waiting for you at the end of the day, since both of you get off at seven.

You both entered the campus and, just before the two of you take separate paths, Yoosung asked for your mobile number. He jogged off after, giving you a thumbs up and a good luck, and telling you that he'd just send you a text where you can both meet up after class. You smile at him and thank him and watched him jog off to the right, before you turn around and walk in the other direction, headed to your first class.

Your first class went by like a blur. You admit that when you pushed the classroom door open, your heart was hammering inside your chest, but ten minutes into the class convinced you that college isn't all the horror your teachers made you believe in high school. Your anatomy professor doesn't seem to be the type your high school teachers warned you about. Indeed, he proved to be a fun and refreshing guy, cracking somewhat crude jokes from time to time to ease everyone inside the classroom up a bit. You can literally feel the tension inside the room dissipate as every freshman inside casts off every negative feeling they have.

All your next classes weren't worth mentioning, you think that nothing can be more interesting than studying the human body with a cool professor, so you end up sitting on a bench, playing with your phone after all your other classes end. The day went by like a burst of wind, and the sun has already set when you leave the campus. You were waiting for that text from Yoosung to come but it's already been half an hour since class has ended and he still hasn't contacted you. Puffing out your cheeks, you begin to wonder if Yoosung really meant what he said when he told you that you were both going to hang out after class ends. And then you wonder if he's forgotten about you. Your phone started beeping just when you were about to entertain more negative thoughts and you checked to see who's called you.

You saw that it was an unknown number. Figuring that it was probably the blond, you answered it and placed the device beside your ear. "Hello?" you asked, a little unsure.

"Joohyun!" You heard your name being shouted on the other side, and you smiled when you recognized that it was from the boy you met hours earlier. He apologized for not contacting you sooner and told you to meet him at the gates. You stood up, grabbed your bag, slung it on your shoulder, and half-walked, half-ran to the university's gates, your hand clutching the rectangular device.

You called his name as soon as you saw his brightly colored hair and he turned in your direction and waved at you. You stopped in front of him and grabbed at the little stitch in your chest that formed when you ran to your meeting place. He sported an apologetic look but you quickly waved it off and asked him where the two of you were heading and half-jokingly told him that it better be a place where you can buy food because waiting for him made you hungry. He put on that apologetic face again and told you that he'd buy you any food you want because it was his fault that you were hungry. You laughed at him, surprising yourself at how easy and natural the reactions you were doing, and told him that he'd better keep his word.

Yoosung puffed out his chest and pounded it with the side of his fist, informing you that he never backs down on his word because he is a man and the scene made you double up in laughter again, grabbing his shoulders and turning him around before pushing him on his back.

You went home with a smile on your face that night, your stomach full of ddeokbbeoki Yoosung bought for you. You felt your phone vibrate inside your back and fished it out. The screen illuminated your face as you read the message Yoosung sent you, asking you if you got home safe. Your smile never leaving your face, you type out a quick reply before throwing the phone on your bed, landing with a soft thud. You went to the bathroom and got ready for bed after.

It's been a few months since your first day and you were getting used to the college life. Yoosung has been a constant element. Not a day goes by without the two of you calling or sending texts to each other. He's even taught you how to play League of Legends, though you figured out after twelve consecutive loses that the game isn't really your thing. Yoosung tried to cheer you up but you told him that MMORPG has never been one of your strengths.

You befriend a couple of other people from your classes too, all of them as nice and friendly as Yoosung. You feel proud of yourself because your social bubble does not just include yourself, your dog, and paperback novels anymore. You're proud to see that you've achieved what you've always wanted ever since middle school: friends.

You were thankful for your friends, especially for Yoosung. Sometimes you imagine what kind of life you'd be leading right now if you didn't accidentally bump into him on that first day. You think that what happened back then was a life-changing event, and it was, only in ways that you'd never expect.

You were on your way to class and stopped by a vending machine to grab a can of coke because you were thirsty. Just as you were about to press the button below the coke, you see a slender finger pressing the button underneath the Dr. Pepper. You frowned at this intruder as he bent down to pick up the Dr. Pepper inside the slot. You see bright red hair and, when he finally straightened up, butterscotch eyes hiding behind spectacles. Your frown deepened when he held the can up and gave you a thanks before walking away. You were about to insert another coin when the bells rang in the intercom, signaling the start of class. You run towards the direction of the classroom, mentally cursing the person you've dubbed "the coke thief" for stealing your only time to grab a refreshment.

You enter the classroom with a frown, slamming the bag on the desk and surprising your friend out of her seat. She looks at you with a surprised expression because you rarely ever show such negative expressions, and waits for you to sit down before asking you what was wrong with you. You told her about the coke thief with the red hair and striped glasses and she couldn't help the short burst of laughter that escaped her mouth.

Your frown deepens, and you ask her what was so funny, and she shook her head, still laughing, and told you that she never would have thought that you, the girl who rarely gets mad in front of other people, would get so irritated by a guy who stole your coke. You would have retorted, telling her that it was a matter of life-and-death because you have to quench your thirst, but you never got the chance because just as you opened your mouth, the door creaks in and the professor comes inside. You sit up straight and looked ahead, preparing yourself for the class.

You told Yoosung about the coke thieving incident when you met up with him for some milk tea after class and he had the exact reaction as your friend earlier.

"Mian," he told you, wiping tears from his eyes. "I just never thought that a pacifist like you would get so worked up over a coke."

You told him that no, you are not a pacifist, and that anybody would get mad when someone stole your chance to drink a nice, cold coke when your throat was as dry as the Sahara desert. Yoosung chuckled, messed with your hair, and told you that the milk tea's on him. Your frown instantly turns into a smile because there's nothing better than free food in this world.

On the way to the train station Yoosung tells you about his day and how much of a slave driver his professors are. You laugh, told him that you were lucky because none of your professors were like that and that they were all cool. His mouth juts to a little pout and he expresses his envy.

"No wonder your skin's always so beautiful," he told you. "You get enough sleep. And you have enough time to put on those creams girls love to put on their faces. That's totally unfair!"

"My skin's naturally beautiful." You inform him. "And I don't put those 'creams girls love to use on their faces' as you put it." You tell him that you found a nice, cheap restaurant the other day and that you'd want to eat with him there tonight.

He puts on an apologetic smile and told you that he wouldn't be able to join you for dinner tonight because he's made an appointment with his friends. You stop in your track because, isn't it your tradition to eat out together every Friday night?

"I'm really sorry," he tells you. "it's just that I already promised my friends I'd join them tonight. You're not mad, are you? I mean, I know Friday nights are our nights out together but I can't just bail on my friends."

You shook your head, gave him a smile, and told him that it's alright, you understand, and that he should hurry up to meet his friends. He gave you another apologetic smile and wrapped you in a one-arm hug before he hurries off down the stairs leading to the underground station. You watch his back as it disappears in the heavy throng of people getting down and sighed before making your way to the train that will send you home.

You wake up the next day to your phone ringing. Groaning, you turned around and grabbed your phone on the desk beside your bed and answered it without checking the caller ID. Yoosung's voice suddenly fills your ears and you ask him why he called so early in the morning. He told you that he was still feeling bad about yesterday and wanted to make it up to you so you agree to meet up with him at noon. As soon as the call ended, you placed the device back on the table and went back to get some more sleep.

You waited for Yoosung at the restaurant you mentioned last night, wearing skinny jeans and a baggy white shirt. Yoosung was running pretty late, you know because you've been checking your watch the last fifteen minutes. Finally, you get a glimpse of blond hair and you know that it's him. You stood up and raised an arm to wave at him when you realize that your friend was not alone. He was with another man. This man has amazing silver locks tied in a ponytail at the base of his skull and strikingly red eyes. He could've been mistaken for a model, with his astonishingly good looks and an outfit straight out of New York Fashion Week.

Yoosung bowed in apology as soon as he reached you, the man staying behind him with crossed arms. The blond was saying something else but you weren't able to catch it, so focused were you at the man standing right behind your friend. Finally sensing that you weren't listening, Yoosung stopped short and looked behind him at the man he's with.

"Guess I didn't introduce you guys." He said with a little laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "Joohyun, this is Zen. Zen, Joohyun."

Yoosung stepped back to allow Zen space. He offered his hand and you shook it, taking in the softness of his palm. "It's nice to meet you Joohyun," he said with a baritone that contrasts that of Yoosung's childish voice, his hand still gently gripping yours.

You offered him a small smile and told him that it was nice to meet him as well. Yoosung watched the short exchange with his signature grin, and explained the reason why he was late. Zen releases his hold on your hand and you give him your full attention.

"My cousin's friend suddenly called me and told me to buy some candy for him. I had to pick Zen hyung up from the university because I don't know where the hell you're supposed to buy the candy my cousin's friend was looking for." Your eyebrows shoot up to hide in your bangs.

"Candies are available at convenience stores," you point out, and Yoosung bit his tongue, as if he let something slip.

"Y-Yeah," he stuttered in reply, his mind obviously thinking up of some excuse. "But these candies…they're really special." You narrow your eyes in suspicion but didn't push the subject further. You look at Zen and asked him if he also goes to Yonsei. You can hear Yoosung breathing a sigh of relief at the sudden change of topic.

Zen scratched the back of his head and gave you a sheepish smile. "Yeah," he replied. "I'm studying to become a lawyer, but I also do acting at the theatre." You open your mouth to reply but Yoosung cut in, suggesting that they all sit down and order lunch. The three of you did so and ordered samgyeopsal before you resume talking to Zen.

You find that you like talking to Zen, despite the fact that he may seem a little narcissistic. You think that it's fine because he has the right to brag about his looks. Before long the food arrived and then you were all too busy eating to talk because you were starving.

You leave the restaurant with the two men, and went to a Baskin Robbins joint to grab ice creams before you part ways with them. Zen told you that you can go see his next play next time and you tell him that you're excited to see him act onstage.

On Sunday you got bored and decided to make a surprise visit to Yoosung. The door to his apartment is open so you let yourself in. His apartment is messy, dirty clothes and used cups of ramyeon littering the floor, a typical boy's apartment, you think. You don't see him anywhere inside his cluttered living room so you check the second door to the left that leads to his bedroom. You see him crouching on his chair, something like white powder spread out in a vertical line on his desk, his head dangerously close to it. You watch him as he takes a thin tube to his right nostril and sniff the white powder off the desk.

"What are you doing?" you ask him, surprising him. Yoosung lets out a cough and whips his head to look at you. You see the purple eyes widen in surprise. He stutters out your name, asks you what you were doing inside his apartment uninvited and you tell him that you were bored and wanted to surprise him. He tells you that he was plenty surprised and your eyes stray from him to the substance lying innocently on his desk, until you finally have an inkling as to what it may be. You stare at Yoosung again and apologize to him, telling him that you're going to leave and that he can go back to his business. You've already shut the door behind you before he could even begin to explain.

You try to avoid him the next day because you still don't know what to feel, seeing him like that, but it's no use. He goes out of his way to wait outside your classrooms after each class and follow you everywhere. You finally let him explain things to you after he bribed you with a macha frappe from Starbucks that's just too hard to resist.

He tells you everything that he can – that he joined an organization his older cousin made when he was a junior in high school and how he thought it was about helping the homeless. He told you how he found out that the organization was just a front, a mask to hide the drug dealing behind the scenes and how he stumbled upon the truth one night when he was in one of the member's mansion and overheard them talking. He told you that he didn't know what to do at first, but decided to keep quiet about it out of loyalty to his cousin and asks, no _begs_ , you to do the same, out of loyalty to him. You don't know what to do at first, conscience clouding all other thoughts, because the situation isn't simple enough to be forgotten the next day, but the look in his eyes compels you to stay quiet, and, with a heavy sigh, you agree to his wishes. He gives you that grateful smile of his and pulls you into a bone-crushing hug and you pat his back and jokingly tell him to release you before you change your mind. He releases you quickly and gives you a sheepish smile.

Days of spending time with the other side of Yoosung you recently discovered brought you to a whole new world. You find out that Zen, the handsome, stage actor slash future lawyer Zen, is also a part of Yoosung's "club". It surprised you, Zen doesn't seem like the type who'd take those "candies" as they call it, but you guess that you really should not judge a book by its cover.

You hang out with the two in Zen's apartment sometimes, and watch as they line up those powdery white substances on Zen's coffee table and sniff them out with those white straw-like things stuck inside one nostril. You usually just watch them get submerged into a world of temporary ecstasy, sitting on Zen's couch and drawing your lips into a tight line as a subtle sign of disapproval, because you know that nothing you say will get through to them.

Zen has invited you to come join them numerous times but you refuse, and Yoosung would reprimand him every time and tell him that it's bad enough that you see them in a state of dissoluteness and that they shouldn't drag her into the world of depravity. You think it's funny how they still care about that when you feel like you've already stepped one foot in the grave.

You sit on Yoosung's bed one Sunday noon, the boy himself preoccupied with the cocaine laid out before him on his desk. Zen wasn't with you both because he had practice to do, he informed you and Yoosung that they were doing a re-enactment of _Wuthering Heights_ , with him playing the role of Heathcliff. "It would've been better if you had played the role of Catherine." he told you with a wink. You laughed at his attempt at flirting.

You ask Yoosung what it feels like to be under the influence of drugs and he turns his attention towards you, a slight haze in his eyes. His brows furrow as he contemplates your question. Finally he tells you that he couldn't put the feelings into words, that the only way to understand why people get addicted to the substance is to try it. "Then I will never understand the feeling," you tell the blond with a shrug. "because I will never try it." Yoosung gives you a nod before returning to the cocaine.

Zen invites you to one of their parties again and this time you agree. Yoosung whips his head so suddenly you thought that he'd break his neck and asks you if you're serious. You give him a shrug and a small smile, and tells him that it wouldn't hurt to go to one. He shakes his head, tries to dissuade you into coming, but there's nothing stopping you because deep inside you know that you're curious about the life Zen and Yoosung are leading, and that sneak peek into that drug-induced lifestyle Zen and Yoosung gave you only makes you more curious. You tell yourself that it wouldn't be bad, that all you'll do is do a little watching, and that you're confident that you will never be dragged down into the same world as them.

You find yourself standing in front of a mansion, with gates larger than anything you've seen before. You wear a simple black sundress that barely touches your knees and black Converse high tops. Zen raised an eyebrow upon seeing your choice of footwear and you tell him that you have never been comfortable in heels. He gives you a little chuckle while Yoosung rings the doorbell. A voice in the intercom asked who the visitor is and Yoosung gave out his name, along with Zen's and "a friend of mine."

The gates open automatically with a little creak and the three of you step inside. You follow a little behind the other two through the driveway leading to the mansion, your eyes taking in the extravagance of your surroundings. You find yourself getting a little nervous and wondered what on earth you've gotten yourself into but you know that it's already too late to back out. You nibble on your lower lip as you near the door. A few more minutes has passed and the three of you stop in front of the door. Yoosung grabs the gold handle and twists it open, pushing the door.

The inside of the mansion is much grander than you've imagined. A red carpet was laid out and it looks like everything inside is gleaming. Two expensive-looking vases adorn the base of the grand staircase in the middle of the room. Zen puts a hand at the small of your back and gently guides you inside. The people inside are dressed just as glamorously, and when they see Zen and Yoosung, they offer the two of them smiles.

"Oh! Rika noona!" The blond suddenly exclaimed, and waved an arm to a beautiful woman with hair just as blonde as Yoosung's. The woman smiled and made her way towards you, together with a tall man with light blue hair. They stop in front of you and the woman gave Yoosung a hug. The four of them talked for a while before the woman realizes you were there.

"Who's this Yoosung-ah?" She asked, her green orbs focusing on you for the first time. Yoosung told her that you are a friend of his from college. The woman gives you a warm smile and offers you a hand that you take. Yoosung asks you if he can bring you with them and the woman, Rika, gives you another look, sizing you up, before she agrees with a nod and a smile.

The woman walks away with the man to talk to the other guests. Yoosung and Zen lead you down a hallway. You walked close to Zen and ask him in a whisper. "Are all these people…?" You didn't have to finish the question because the white-haired man understood. He leans in closer to you and replies in a voice just as soft as yours. "Yeah. Everyone here enjoys the candy Rika gives them."

You nodded and remained quiet throughout the rest of the journey. Zen and Yoosung led you from one hallway to another, up a flight of stairs and another hallway, and you begin to wonder where the end of the maze is. The three of you finally stop in front of a door and Yoosung pushes it open.

You see another flight of stairs leading down a dimly-lit room with rock music blaring. The beating in your heart sped up. Yoosung turns back to look at you with a deadly seriousness you've never seen him wear before.

"Are you sure about this? You can't back out from this you know." You meet his purple orbs and answer him with a nod, the curiosity still burning inside you. You remind yourself that you are not here to try out the "candies" but to know more about Zen and Yoosung's social circle. A little glimpse wouldn't hurt you.

Yoosung lets out another sigh and he turns back to the flight of stairs. Zen was the first one to descend the stairs, followed by you, with Yoosung bringing up the rear. You can hear the soft pad of your Converse against the granite steps, the rock music getting louder every step you take. At last you reach the landing and see the dimly-lit room. You scan your surroundings. The place is obviously for private personnel only, judging by the very limited number of people inside. A rounded couch sits at a corner of the room with a rounded table, with a guy with white hair currently lounging, a cigarette stick snuggled between two fingers. Several other chairs and tables were scattered all over the room, as well as a bar completely decked out with all the fancy gins and vodkas you can never name.

You notice boxes upon boxes shoved neatly on one side of the room and you figure that it must be where they hide the drugs. The people inside seem to be lost in their own worlds. Zen has walked from your side to talk to the other white-haired guy and pretty soon, they were covered in a cloud of smoke. Yoosung still hasn't left your side and you turn to look at him. He seems to have felt that you were uncomfortable and gives you a small smile.

"Why don't you go to the bar and get something to drink? I'll be right back." You nod and he leaves you to talk to a woman with short hair and glasses. You make your way towards the bar, feeling more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. Maybe it really was a bad idea, you think, to come here. After all, this isn't really your world. You sigh and chose to sit at the stool nearest the wall and rest your chin on the palm of your hand with your elbow propped up on the bar. You quickly do a scan of the bar and realize that there was no bartender. Not that you'd need one. You were never one to drink anyway.

Your eyes land on the different sized bottles standing on display in front of you and read their names one by one. Soon you were spacing out and didn't even notice someone standing behind the counter in front of you until he gives out a little cough.

You snap out of your reverie and sit up straight, focusing on the person behind the counter. "I thought there weren't any bartenders here." You blurt out, and the person frowns a little. "I'm not a bartender."

You notice the red hair and golden eyes behind striped horn-rimmed glasses and frown a little because the person looks a bit familiar but before you can further delve into the thought, Yoosung has come to your side. He casually leans on the bar and doesn't notice the man behind it as he speaks to you, telling you that you've seen enough and that it's time for you to get going.

You nod and stand up but before you can move an inch away from the bar, you see the blonde woman and the bluenette come down the stairs. Someone turned the volume down until the rock music became a buzz in the background. You watch as the blonde, Rika, walks to the center of the room. She stops and looks everywhere until her eyes find you and she smiles before addressing everyone else.

"Everyone," she says with a voice sweet yet powerful enough to be heard inside the room. "I'm glad that we're all here. I would like to announce a very good news." She paused, sensing that she has gotten everyone's attention. Zen and the other white-haired stopped their smoking session to listen to what the blonde lady has to say. The blonde looked at you again, with that same smile plastered on her face, and you can't help the shudder that ran through your spine.

"My adorable cousin Yoosung, has brought a new member for us." Your eyebrows knit together as you try to comprehend her words, and you turn to Yoosung to ask him what's happening but he's gone, already making his way to Rika. You can see Zen doing the same, his handsome face pulled into a frown.

"Huh," you hear someone behind you say. You whip your head around to see the person with red hair staring at you. "You must be the new member. Welcome. Please understand that once you enter, you can't bail."


	2. Wave II

"What was Rika thinking?!" You hear Yoosung say for the umpteenth time. Zen stays quiet behind the wheels but you can tell that he was furious by the way his hands clench the wheel. You stay quiet in the backseat, mind still reeling from the events that unfolded.

Zen drops you off in front of your house and before you manage to open the gate, you hear the window being rolled down. You turn around to find Zen looking at you with an apologetic face, Yoosung leaning in with the same expression though it was mixed with fury.

"We'll try to talk Rika out of it," Zen promises you, and you nod and give them both a faint smile. You watch the car fade into nothing before entering the confines of your home. You tiptoe your way upstairs, careful not to wake your parents, and upon entering your room, plop down on the bed waiting for you. You close your eyes and try to sleep without bothering to change out of the dress but the events from earlier wouldn't leave your mind.

You wake up the next day feeling exhausted, the bags under your eyes more prominent than usual. You try not to think about what happened yesterday as you fix yourself up. You trust that Zen and Yoosung would clear up what must have been a misunderstanding with Rika.

By noon your phone rings and you pick it up to find Yoosung calling you. Biting your lip, your hands trembling, you swipe your thumb across your phone and bring it to your ear, letting out a nervous hello that you know wouldn't go unnoticed by Yoosung. You hear his voice on the other side of the phone and close your eyes as you pray for good news.

"I'm sorry," Yoosung begins. "Zen and I went back to the party after sending you off. We tried to dissuade Rika noona but…" he sighs before continuing again. "She's not really the type of person to be dissuaded easily. It's one of the qualities that made her leader of this organization."

You don't answer, tears gathering at the corners of your eyes. "Yoosung-ah," you whisper softly, "what's going to happen to me?"

The fear in your voice sent Yoosung on edge and he tries to calm you down but there was nothing to calm you down because your carefully planned out future is spilling like water and you cannot grab on to it no matter how hard you try.

You know that there was nobody else to blame but yourself. Yoosung tried to dissuade you from coming to that party but your curiosity won over every other sound judgment in your mind. You scold yourself for being curious, for not knowing better, for not staying away from that other life Yoosung didn't want to involve you in. You tell Yoosung that you need some time for yourself and end the call.

You try to keep yourself in check the night before Monday, not wanting to trouble anybody. You check yourself in the mirror to see if the stress of the situation is showing, and is satisfied to see that aside from the dark circles under your eyes, everything else seems to be in order.

You were your usual cheerful self at school, and nobody doubts the façade you've put up. Nobody except for Yoosung and Zen. Yoosung wouldn't stop looking at you with a frown on his face and Zen would send you text messages every chance he gets. It annoys you, even though you know they were acting the way they were because they worry about your well-being. You tell them to stop looking at you like a dead man and threaten to ignore them if they don't stop.

Alone in your room, you can't stop pacing around, chewing your lip and wondering what on earth Rika was planning to do. You can't bring yourself to ask Yoosung or Zen questions regarding the organization because in truth, there's still that part of you that hopes that everything was just a dream and asking either of them information about the drug syndicate would shatter that seemingly hopeless dream.

You sit on the bench alone one Tuesday morning, basking in the warmth of the sun. August was ending and with it, your hopes of a drug-free future. You fidget with your phone, thumbs hovering over the keypad. You received a message from Yoosung earlier telling you that Rika was asking for your contact info. You have no idea what Rika would want to do with your contact, but seeing as you're now a member of her organization, you expect that you'd be receiving important messages from her soon.

You concentrate on typing a simple reply that wouldn't give away your fear, and read and re-read the sentence before you decide that it was good enough. Your thumb slightly hovers above the send button and you try to calm your nerves before you send out the reply.

"Pretty sure he's waiting for your reply. Better hit that send button now." You hear someone say beside you, and you almost jumped out of your seat. You must've concentrated on your message so much you didn't notice when someone sat beside you. You turn your head to the right and see a mop of bright red hair over horn-rimmed glasses, with red headphones hanging on his neck. You remember him as the guy behind the bar that day of the party. Another member of Rika's drug syndicate.

"I never got to introduce myself," he said, offering one hand, the other grasping a can of Dr. Pepper. "I'm the Defender of Justice, Seven Zero Seven." You stare at his hand, and he lightly shakes it, telling you to take it. You reluctantly take his hand and introduce yourself. He gives you a grin and brings the can of Dr. Pepper to his lips.

Something inside of you snaps as you remember where you first saw Seven Zero Seven. The can of Dr. Pepper jogged your memory and you remember the coke thief. You point an accusing finger at him and narrowed your eyes. "You stole my coke."

He raises a perfect red brow and looks at you like you're about to go nuts. "Okay… if you say so. Sure." He says in that tone that suggests he thinks you're losing your mind. Before you argue any further though, his face turns serious.

"Anyway, back to business." He says, and you notice the change in his tone of voice. "Rika wants your contact, am I right?" He looks at you and you give him a little nod of the head. He fishes something out of his pocket and brings out a red phone and waves it at you. "Since you're now a member of the organization, she'd probably want to enter you to the organization's private chat. Open your phone. I'm going to send you the chat's apk." As he says this, Seven Zero Seven's thumbs fly over his phone screen. You do as you are told and install the apk once you receive it.

"From now on, if you have anything to say about the organization, say it here." He instructs you. "All business transactions will be sent directly to Rika's computer so make sure you do everything properly."

You stare at him, golden orbs clashing against golden orbs, and ask him, "What if I want out?" Seven Zero Seven raises an eyebrow again and he shakes his head.

"Has Yoosungie not told you?" He lowers his voice and leans in close to you. "Once you enter the organization, you can't get out. The organization's deeply tied to a bunch of VIPs not just in this country, but in the entire continent. The only way out would be to cease to exist."

The fear that has you prisoner ever since the party tightens its hold on your gut but you try not to let it show on your face. "Fine." You tell him, like the fact doesn't bother you one bit. "What do I have to do then?"

The redhead motions to your phone with his head. "Not sure what Rika would want you to do. She'd tell you herself in the messenger. My brother and I mostly handle the RFA's tech stuff by the way. So if you have any questions regarding the messenger, ask me."

Your eyebrows knit in confusion. "RFA? What does that mean?"

"Has Yoosung really not told you anything?" he asks back. "RFA stands for Rika's Fundraising Association."

" _Fundraising_?" You repeat, the word sounding foreign in your mouth. "What do we raise funds for?" You mentally cringe at your choice of pronoun.

"You'll see." Seven Zero Seven replies, standing up. "I have to go. I have physics class at two and I can't afford to be late. I'll see you around." He takes one last sip of the Dr. Pepper and walks away, playing with his red headphones' cord.

You stare at the app, the private messenger now installed on your phone, and decided to check it when you're safely alone inside your room. You wonder just how big of an operation RFA does and what kind of fundraising it actually does, and you guess that the RFA probably has other businesses you don't know about.

You lie on your bed with your phone hovering a foot from your face. You continue to stare at the app Seven Zero Seven has given you earlier in the day and wonder if you should actually open it. You snap out of your reverie when you feel your phone vibrate and a notification pops out of your screen that informs you that you have received a new message from an unknown number. You open it and read the message.

The message inside was so simple. A sentence: "Open the messenger Seven has sent you." The simple message caused your heart to palpitate and your phone slipped a few inches from your hands. You sit up and stare at the screen again before opening the app. The app requires you to put in a username and you type your name. It then lets you proceed to the messenger.

You see a chatroom open and you enter it, letting out a sigh of relief when you see that Zen and Yoosung are both online as well. Upon reading the words " _Park Joohyun has joined the chat_ ", both men sent a couple dozen of messages to you, spamming the whole chatroom. You remain silent though, waiting for Rika to tell you what to do, and both Yoosung and Zen gradually stop trying to make conversation with you.

You see another person is online, someone named Kang Jaehee, but you don't bother introducing yourself to her. Instead, you let Yoosung introduce you to the chatroom. You continue to read their conversation, impatiently waiting for Rika to show up, but she doesn't. Their conversation has drifted from ecstasy to the newly opened bar in Hongdae to the decline of stocks in the stock market.

You were about to hit the leave chatroom button after thirty minutes of reading their senseless conversation (for you anyway) when she finally went online. The words " _Rika has joined the chat_ " made you feel on edge.

She entered the word "hello" and you felt that the message was really meant for you. You typed out a short "Hello Rika" with your shaking fingers and wait for her to reply.

"Hello Joohyun." She typed out. "It's nice to finally see you here." Her words made you cringe and you stare at her display picture (it was a picture of herself with an angelic smile plastered on her face), and you wonder how you came to be afraid of a fragile-looking girl. You have to remind yourself that this fragile-looking girl is the leader of a drug syndicate servicing VIPs not just in Korea, but in all of Asia. Before you can type out a response, the blonde continued with another message that says "We're going to have a transaction this Saturday at one pm."

Yoosung asks her who is going to do the transaction and Rika replied with "Zen." You were just about to release a sigh of relief when she sent another message saying "and Joohyun". The breath you were going to release caught up in your throat as you stare unbelievingly at your screen.

Yoosung sent out a stream of complaints towards his cousin, his anger showing in the way the font size keeps getting bigger in every message he sends. But even her own cousin couldn't keep her from changing her mind. Rika sent another message that says "I'll send you both more information later. Be ready." before signing off.

You let out a raspy breath, your fingers still trembling. Yoosung asks you if you're okay but you don't bother answering and log off the chat as well. Your phone rings three minutes later and you weren't surprised to see Yoosung's name on the screen.

Yoosung's worried voice fills your ear as you answer his call, assuring you that it won't be too bad, that Zen would handle most of the transaction and that all you had to do was sit in the shotgun seat and watch while it happens. You let out a small smile and tell him that you're okay, hoping that Yoosung wouldn't hear your worries through the phone.

Rika texts you the location and the name of the customer you and Zen will be meeting a few minutes after Yoosung ends the call. You lie on the bed, staring at your screen, reading the text Rika sent you over and over again, hoping that Saturday would never come.

On Saturday you try to dress as inconspicuous as you can. Zen waits for you in front of your gate, leaning on the car and looking like a male model about to go to a photoshoot. You pass by your parents on the way to Zen and they ask you who the person waiting outside is but you ignore the question and inform them that you'll be back by five.

You flash Zen a smile once you see him and he opens the shotgun door for you. You get inside and fumble with the seatbelt for a while before Zen helps you with it as soon as he gets inside the car. You hear the satisfying click of the seatbelt and Zen revs the engine.

You stare at the window during the drive, watching the Hangang River as Zen drives past one of the bridges connecting the islands of Seoul.

"Are you nervous?" you hear Zen ask. You see his reflection by the window watching you through his periphery. You give him a slight nod and he lets out a small smile. "Don't worry," he tells you. "Yoosung has already told you hasn't he? I'm not going to let whoever it is we're meeting see you. You'll stay inside this car, okay?"

You turn your head and give Zen a grateful smile. You know that Zen wouldn't let you be in danger and you're thankful for his company. You have no idea what you'd do if you were sent with someone you don't know. You secretly thank Rika for at least partnering you with someone you're on speaking terms with.

The car stops at the location Rika has sent you – an abandoned warehouse in a secluded part of Seoul. Zen steps out of the car and leans on it, checking his watch. You wait inside the car, chewing on your lips. "Zen," you call his name in a whisper, and he turns his attention to you. "What kind of person are we meeting today?"

"Rika told me he's the son of a politician," Zen replies with a shrug. "Not sure who though. Rika doesn't tell those kinds of information to us. I bet we won't be meeting the guy himself. We never do. They usually just send out some of their bodyguards or whatever to do the transaction." He takes a box of cigarettes from one pocket and pops out a stick before placing it back inside. He places the stick between his lips and takes out a lighter from another pocket and lights it. The smoke from the cigarette creates a trail that goes upwards. You both hear the squealing of car tires and turn your attention to where it came from. You see a black BMW parking five feet in front of you. A man wearing a business suit comes out and Zen straightens himself. He walks to the back of your car and pops the hood, grabbing a black suitcase you were sure was full of the deadly substance. You see the man drag a suitcase identical to the one Zen was carrying out of the BMW.

You watch their brief exchange before Zen makes his way back to you, the suitcase he was carrying now full of money. He enters the car and places the suitcase in the backseat before starting the engine. The BMW went out first and Zen waits a few minutes before he rolls the car out.

"Joohyun, kindly tell Rika that the transaction was a success. Tell her the exact time the transaction took place and how much the buyer paid."

"How much _did_ the buyer pay?" you ask as you whip your phone out to do as you were told.

"Three million won in cash." He informed you and you almost choked on your own saliva, your eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"They paid that much for the drugs?" you ask him, failing to keep the incredulity out of your voice. Zen shrugs as if it was nothing.

"Those rich assholes are willing to pay a lot to get their hands on these," he tells you, eyes never leaving the windshield. "and you don't have to worry. I'm pretty sure they paid the exact amount of cash."

"How can you be so sure? You checked it?"

"Nope. But they know what's going to happen to them if they don't keep their part of the transaction.

* * *

 **A/N: I didn't get to say hi in the first chapter so here. Hi everyone! Welcome to Iridescence. Please love this story as much as I did. I'll be posting the next chapter if I get enough reviews. If I don't, then I'll just have to scrap this fanfiction. Lol. Forgive me for my grammatical errors. I couldn't read through this whole fic because it's 25k+ words and it's not even halfway done. Lololol. Thank you for giving this fic your time! ^^**

 **-olympicmayhem**


	3. Wave III

It's been a few weeks since you went out with Zen. Since then Rika hasn't sent you to any other organization-related business and you make it a point to stay out of the chatroom whenever possible. The other RFA members don't bother looking for you, with the exception of Yoosung and Zen. They keep you company most of the time, even when you don't ask for it.

A couple of times you see Seven Zero Seven in the hallways with a boy with white hair and mint green eyes and built exactly like him. You assume that he's the brother Seven Zero Seven mentioned to you before. You usually lock eyes with him every time, but you never bother to greet him and he does the same.

Zen and Yoosung still continue to use the candies whenever they want. You learn that there are rewards Rika gives whenever a transaction goes well. You ask them if a transaction hasn't gone well before, out of curiosity.

"It only happened once." Yoosung told you, and both he and Zen made grave faces before returning their attention to the candies, not bothering to elaborate.

You begin spending more time at the university's library, enjoying the peace the place gives you. You've begun to proclaim the seat farthest from the librarian's desk as your own and would spend your free time there doing your homework.

A couple of your friends would accompany you there sometimes, but you feel like you don't belong with them anymore, because they were leading normal lives and you feel that you're on the path to destruction. Every time you're with them, you feel the envy blossoming inside of you; envy because unlike you, they were able to laugh freely. Unlike you, they never have to fear when Rika would be texting you, to make you go do another transaction.

You start to isolate yourself from the others, something you've promised yourself you'd never do once you enter college, but you feel like you can never open up to those people again. Out of all the friends you've managed to gather over the past months, there are only two people you can really confide in, and both of them are induced with illegal substances.

"That homework won't magically complete itself if you just keep on staring at it." You were inside the library, sitting on your favorite place with your homework propped open on the table. You've been staring absentmindedly at it for the past thirty minutes or so, twirling your pen between two fingers, when you hear someone beside you speaking. You almost shoot up from your chair, and you whip your head up to see who the intruder is and see a familiar mop of red hair.

"Stop popping out of nowhere." You hiss at him as he takes a seat in front of you, placing a thick volume in front of him. He raises a brow at you.

"Then stop giving people chances to surprise you."

You decide not to answer and return your attention to the task in front of you. You both fall silent for a while as you each focus on the opened textbooks in front of you. You stare at the printed words on your physics textbook, trying to decipher the problem printed in black ink, and coming up with no solution. You end up doing doodles on the notebook lying open beside your physics textbook before your pen got snatched.

You turn towards the only possible perpetrator and tell him, "So you've gone from coke thief to pen thief." but he doesn't answer you. Instead, he took the notebook and started scribbling. You try to read what he was writing but his vibrant mop of red hair keeps it out of view. When he was done, he gave you the pen and slid the notebook in your direction. You turn it around to see that he's written the answer to your homework.

"Thank you," you mumble a little too softly that he almost didn't catch it. Almost. He shrugs.

"I'm the Defender of Justice, remember?" He gave you a boyish smirk. Your face turned a light shade of pink and you think that the temperature inside the room just went up a little.

Rika sends you a message telling you to go on the messenger. You sigh and do as you are told. The usual flood of messages pop on your screen. As per usual, you remain silent in the messenger, not even bothering to read the others' messages. You see that everyone in the RFA is logged in, even the blue-haired one you know as V.

"What's up Rika?" A man called Han Jumin asked, and everyone stopped sending messages to wait for Rika's response.

"We are going to have another party at the end of the month." the blonde replies. "And I expect everyone to be there." You feel like the last sentence was sent especially for you. Rika informs everyone that the party will be bigger than last time, and this time, she is inviting more VIPs from across the globe. "Secrecy will be very important," she tells everyone. "Jumin, I want more security placed. Some of the guests we'll be having are known across the globe. Luciel, make sure that none of the intel leaks out of the internet."

You stare at the name Luciel, wondering who Rika was referring to. You were about to ask who Luciel is when Seven Zero Seven replies with a thumbs-up. You realize that Luciel must be his real name, however unusual the name is. Maybe he's only half Korean?

"Joohyun, I want you to stay by my side during the party." Rika said, and you stared at your phone screen for a couple of seconds, trying to decipher the words. Why would Rika want you to stay by her side at the party? You type out the question but you never got to send it because Rika has already logged off. You log off a few seconds after.

You find yourself dreading the end of the month, wishing for time to pass by slowly. Of course it doesn't go like that and you find yourself standing beside Rika in the mansion where Rika first announced your membership to the other members.

Rika, it seems, plans to introduce you to all the most important customers. The two of you have been weaving in and out of the crowd for the last two hours to meet up with people of different nationalities. Not being good at English, you mostly offer nothing more than a smile while Rika rambles on.

Your eyes wander to the hall full of people and you wonder vaguely why these people would throw away millions of won just to get a whiff of temporary ecstasy. Rika has tugged on your arm and you bring your attention back to the person in front of you, a popular actress, you've seen her a bunch of times on television. As you and Rika walked away from her Rika told you in a low voice, "Glam Choi is one of the highest paid actresses in the country. But it's not just that, she's also Jumin's father's current girlfriend. She's a really important customer. Don't get on her bad side, got it?"

You give the blonde a little nod and she leads you out of the crowd into a hallway. You know that you are going to the RFA's hideout. The tension goes out every step you take that will take you further away from the crowd. Rika opens the door and you step inside, taking the flight of stairs, Rika following behind you. She stops at the foot of the stairs and called out V before going back. As V passes you, he gives you a small nod and a smile that you return.

You made your way to the bar and slumped on one of the stools, placing your hands on the bar and resting your forehead on your left arm, letting out a groan. You hear shuffling footsteps and you look up to see red-haired Luciel with that smile on his face, a glass of wine in one hand.

"Met up with the very important persons?" he asked, raising the glass to his lips. You give him a nod and a sigh.

"I didn't understand most of the people," you told him. "they speak in English and that was my worst subject in high school." Luciel laughs at that and places a glass in front of you.

"How about you drink some wine to calm your nerves?" he says, turning around to the shelves full of expensive wine. You tell him that you don't really drink wine but he didn't listen. He pulled out a bottle of expensive-looking wine and popped out the cork. He filled half of the wine glass and pushed it towards you. You stare at the red liquid, not making any move to take the glass. Luciel continued drinking. You stare around at the room and realized for the first time that there seemed to be two people missing. "Yoosung and Zen are partying upstairs." Luciel answers your unspoken question, pouring himself another glass. You nod and turn your attention back to him, a frown forming on your face.

"I got a bone to pick with you," you started. Luciel only set down the bottle of wine and raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell me your name's Luciel?" He gave you a chortle and your frown deepened. Taking another swig of wine, he tells you, "I bet you were really confused who Rika was talking to in the chatroom right?" You don't bother to answer and continue to stare at him. He leans on the bar and you get a closer view of the golden orbs behind those glasses. "Well, guess I have to introduce myself now. The name's Luciel Choi. It's nice to meet you Park Joohyun."

"Are you half Korean?" you ask him, and he gives you another grin. "Getting interested in me now?" He let out a _tsk tsk_ sound and shakes his head. "Now that's dangerous. Better not get caught up in the world of Luciel Choi."

You let out an annoyed groan. "I'm already caught up in the world of drug-dealing. Just how dangerous could the world of Luciel Choi be?"

You see his eyes losing its mischievous glint as he leans closer to you, leaving an inch of space. He tilts his head and you freeze in place, your eyes open wide. "It's a whole different level of depravity you'd wish to never enter." He whispers, his breath tickling your cheek. A shiver runs down your spine and your heart jumps erratically inside your chest. He leans away, mischievous smile back in place, and gives you a wink before walking away.

You see Luciel inside the library on Monday after the party, engrossed in a thick volume. You take the seat in front of him, making the chair screech as loudly as possible to signal your presence but the redhead doesn't bother to look up. You give a little frown and tried to instead focus on the schoolwork laid out before you.

A few minutes into the homework, you hear the red-head sitting in front of you speak and it takes you a while to understand what he said. You look up at him with a confused expression and he gives you a little shake of the head. His arm takes the notebook you've been writing on and you watch him as he works on your homework. You admire the fringes of red hair covering his forehead, the long, beautiful lashes hidden behind the stripe-patterned glasses.

"Better focus on your homework now. I'll give you time to admire me later." His voice was light, teasing, but you still couldn't stop the blush from creeping up your face because he caught you admiring him. He looks at you through those long lashes and you see the corners of his lips curve up to form that mischievous smile. You force yourself to look down at the notebook and see the answer written.

"Defender of Justice, just what will I do without you?" you tell him with a smile.

"Probably failing?" You stick your tongue out at him and he laughs at your reaction. You tell him that, given enough time, you probably would have been able to solve it without his help. He just gives you a condescending nod and you reach out and flick his forehead.

"So what are you majoring in?" he asks, rubbing his forehead. You give him the same grin he gave you at the party and tell him, "Getting interested in me now?" He grins and gives you an approving nod.

"Using my words on me," he said, giving you an approving look. "Smart. Now I see why you're in Yonsei, Park Joohyun." Before you can give out a reply, you notice someone with bleached white hair and mint green eyes stopping just behind Luciel. Sensing someone behind him, the redhead looks behind him to see the guy with white hair and you realized that this is the same person you've seen Luciel often hanging around with and the person who was smoking the first time you went to the party, what seemed like ages ago.

"Saeran-ah!" You hear Luciel say, as he stands up. "Park Joohyun, sorry I can't keep you company much longer," Luciel Choi tells you, turning back to you. "I have something important to do. I'll see you around." He gathered up his things and walked away from you, wrapping an arm around the white-haired person's shoulders. You absentmindedly watch the two of them until they're out of sight. You hear Twice's TT intro and you know you have to pick up your phone before the librarian kicks you out of the library. You answer the phone without bothering to see who's calling you.

"Joohyun-ah!" Yoosung's cheerful voice fills your ear and you can't help the smile forming on your face. You miss spending time with the boy. You've been so wrapped up in your own world that you've almost forgotten the sound of Yoosung's voice. You agree to meet up with him before two pm. You grabbed your stuff and hastily placed them inside your studded backpack, slinging it on one shoulder. You half-ran towards your meeting place and leaned against the wall, deciding to play a game on your phone while waiting for your blond friend.

He arrives a few minutes late, apologizing profusely because the professor asked him to run an errand. You shake it off and decide to get some bungeoppang. As you both walk to the stall, Yoosung asks you how you've been coping up with the situation. Your expression turned a few shades darker but you decide to answer him nonetheless.

"I'm starting to get used to it I guess," you mumble, and your blond friend gives you a smile. "That's great, isn't it?" You just nod in agreement no matter how much you want to disagree. There's nothing good about getting used to a life of constant hiding, you think. Yoosung must have sensed your dark thoughts because he shifted gears and started talking about his current LOL guild and their worldwide ranking. You were happy for the change of subject, even though you don't understand a single thing he's saying.

He stops talking once you both reach the bungeoppang stall and ordered four bungeoppang each from the nice ahjussi. Yoosung offered to pay for the bungeoppang, and the two of you went to sit down on a nearby bench to enjoy the bread delicacy.

"Seven hyung only eats the stomach part." Yoosung tells you, attacking the fish-shaped bread's head. You stop eating and stare at Yoosung and blinked. "Really? Why?"

Yoosung gave you a shrug. "It's one of the mysteries shrouding Seven hyung… and Unknown hyung for that matter." You ask Yoosung who Unknown is, and he informs you that it's the white-haired person who fetched Luciel from the library a while ago.

"They're twins, if you haven't figured that out yet." Yoosung tells you. "Although that's the only thing we know about them. I've known the two for years but they've never given us information about themselves. They're so secretive. I bet nobody else in the RFA knows where they actually live except for Rika noona and V."

"Are they half-Korean?" you ask Yoosung. He shakes his head.

"No. You thought they were half-Koreans because of Seven hyung's name huh?" You nod your head. Yoosung continues, "Luciel is Seven hyung's baptismal name. Nobody knows what his Korean name is. Well, except for Unknown hyung, Rika noona, and V. We all asked him what his Korean name is several times but he wouldn't give us a straight answer." You store this new piece of information inside a section of your head saved for your growing curiosity for the bespectacled redhead.

You and Yoosung continue to talk about the growing difficulty of each class, Yoosung mostly complaining about his professors. You listen to him, half of your mind wandering to the red-haired member of the RFA and his twin brother.

You see him again inside the cafeteria on Wednesday, sitting alone at a table near yours. You were with your circle of friends, minus Yoosung and Zen, when you happen to pass by his table. You sit on a table with the perfect view of his mop of radiant hair, until two of your friends sit in front of you, obstructing your view of the redhead. Through the gap between your friends' shoulders you see him bringing his headphones to his ears, swiping his phone's screen, as if searching for something. Your friends ask you a question and you try to bring your attention back to them, giving them a reply after they've repeated the question.

You give him another peek a few minutes later, and is surprised when you find him staring back at you. He gives you a wink and a little smirk and it caused the rush of blood to your face. Your friends try to get your attention but Luciel Choi is all you can see. You feel your phone vibrate inside your pocket and check to see the same redhead's name flashing on your screen. You look back at him with a puzzled expression and he nods his head towards the phone, telling you to open the message. You nod and swipe your phone screen to open the said message.

"Missed me already?" it said, complete with a smile emoji. Before you could reply, another message popped up, this one saying "better not let your friends know about me. I'm from the RFA after all. Quick! Hurry up and answer their question!" You look up to see your friends looking at you with puzzled expressions. You give them an apologetic smile, and asked them to repeat the question. They asked you if you know where Yoosung went. Your expression darkened a little and you tell them that you don't know where he went, hoping that they wouldn't see right through your little lie.

You know perfectly well that Kim Yoosung went with the short-haired lady named Kang Jaehee from the RFA to who-knows-where to complete a transaction. Another buzz from your hand brought your attention back to the mobile device in your hand. "Worried about Yoosung? Don't worry. The kid's been doing this for more than two years already." Your thumbs fly around the phone screen, typing out a quick "I'm not worried about Yoosung. Just don't like that he's skipping school because of that." You look at Luciel and watch him read your message. He looks at you with a raised brow before he slings his bag behind him. He grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper and carried the bag of Honey Butter Chips in another. He stands up and walks out of the cafeteria without sparing you another glance.

* * *

 **A/N: Another update for the two or three readers lol please give more comments lololol thanks**

 **-olympicmayhem**


	4. Wave IV

On Saturday night you decide to go out with friends. You finished schoolwork early and Rika isn't giving you any RFA-related business so you decided to accept your friends' invitation to the newly opened club in Hongdae. You dress in a striped jumper dress with a tee underneath and matching black pumps. The strobe lights hurt your eyes and the music too deafening. You watch your friends on the dance floor, jumping and bobbing their heads to the rhythm of the music, once in a while grinding their bodies against some random male. You give a little cringe every time you see it.

"Want something to drink?" You turn around to see a stranger asking you. You give him a small smile and a shake of the head but the stranger was so damn insistent about giving you a drink, pushing the glass of crystal liquid in your direction. You stare at the shot glass, your mind going on overdrive, trying to come up with polite ways to leave him. Your brain comes up with nothing, and you curse yourself for being too innocent for this world. You were about to take the glass when you felt a warm hand circling your wrist. You look up to see Luciel Choi and you open your mouth to speak but before the words got out of your mouth, Luciel has pulled you with a force strong enough to make you stand up. He turns his attention towards the stranger with a smile and told him, "Sorry but she's with me." before he pulls you away from the stranger. You both weave in and out of the crowd of dancing bodies, Luciel keeping a tight hold on you, before both of you stop at the farthest corner of the club, the music there not as loud as it was at the bar.

Luciel lets go of your hand and turns around to look at you before letting out a sigh. "Park Joohyun," he begins with a shake of the head. "just what are you going to do without me?" He lets out a _tsk tsk_ sound.

"But I wasn't doing anything." You told him, the confusion evident on your voice. Luciel shakes his head again.

"That man was going to drug you, you know. He put ecstasy in that glass before giving it to you. Had you taken it, I don't know where you'd wind up going. Seriously, just what are you going to do without me?" Your mouth formed an o shape as you take the information in. You bowed and apologized for causing trouble for him. He shakes his head, telling you it was nothing and made you promise to be more careful next time.

"What are you doing here anyway?" you inquire, before crossing your arms over your chest and narrowing your eyes. "You're not stalking me, are you?" He lets out a snort and replies with "You wish. I was here before you. If anything, you were the one stalking me." You playfully punch his arm in response.

"Is that how you treat your protector?" he asks you, rubbing the arm you hit and pretending to be hurt. You just roll your eyes at him.

"So why didn't I see you here?" you ask him. He points up and stares at something behind you and you turn around and look up to see a platform on the second floor.

"I was there the whole time," he informs you. "I even saw you entering with your friends. I was surprised to see you here by the way. Didn't peg you as the type to party." His eyes focus on you, looking you up and down, and you feel a little conscious. You look around the club to keep your eyes from him.

"Your brother's not with you? Unknown-ssi?" you ask him.

"No. I'm here alone. My brother doesn't really like crowded places."

"Oh. I can relate."

"Then what are you doing here?" he asks with a small frown.

"Thought I'd give partying with friends a chance since I'm not too busy partying with RFA." You answer with a shrug. "But I guess I'm really not suited for this kind of thing." Your eyes roam the dance floor and you once again watch your friends grind their bodies against strangers, their sweat mingling with each other, and you mentally cringe.

"First time going to a place like this?" he asks you and you nod. He nods back and grabs your hand again, leading you outside the club. Both of you are already halfway across the street before you can ask him where you are both going. He doesn't answer, only tightens his hold on your hand, and you try not to think about how big and warm his hand is, and how much it feels good to have him hold yours. You enter a 7/11 branch and he leads you to one of the plastic benches. You sit down and he walks away, freeing your hand.

You try not to think about the sudden coldness from the hand he let go as you wonder what on earth you both were doing there. He comes back with two cups of ramyeon and sits in front of you before sliding one of the cups to you. You take it and raise an eyebrow at him, silently questioning him. He shrugs.

"I figured this was your kind of partying." He tells you, breaking his chopsticks into two. You give him a little chuckle and a shake of the head.

"So we're partying right now?" you ask him, breaking your own chopsticks before blowing into the cup of hot ramyeon.

"You bet."

"Sad that we're missing one thing. Otherwise this party could've been perfect." He looks up from his cup of ramyeon and raises an eyebrow.

"What are we missing?"

"Disney movies."

"Aaaaahhhhhh…." He says, nodding slowly. "Then next time we have a party, remind me to bring my box of Disney films at home." You nearly choke on the ramyeon you were eating as you let out a laugh.

"Thanks Luciel," you tell him after a while. He gives you a genuine smile and reaches out, messing your hair.

"I kinda knew you aren't into big crowds after the last two RFA parties. The Defender of Justice observes everything."

"I owe the Defender of Justice a lot." You tell him with a smile. "What should I do to repay my debts?" Luciel shakes his mop of red hair.

"A hero does not ask for payment." he tells you in a serious voice, puffing his chest up. You laugh and call him a dork. Your phone vibrated inside your pocket and you fished it out, checking the notification.

"It's a message from one of my friends." You inform Luciel, eyes scanning the Kakao message your friend has sent you, asking for your whereabouts. The redhead sitting in front of you took your phone before you could protest and typed out a quick reply. He handed it back to you and you read the message he wrote. "Busy partyin with mah fam. Dun worry. I'll get home safe. Have fun! Lol" it says. You stare at him after reading.

"This isn't how I write a message." You tell him. "My friends would think I'm drunk." He gives you a shrug.

"Well I wouldn't know how you write one because the only message you've ever sent the messenger is a single "Hello Rika"." He has a point there. You're not sure whether to tell Luciel that the messenger makes you feel uncomfortable, the two of you aren't really close enough to tell each other secrets. And there was something about Luciel Choi, something not quite right. You push the thought at the back of your mind. You don't want to think about it right now.

Luciel brings you home a little after midnight in his red sports car. You were worrying about the last train when he rolled his eyes at you and leads you back to the club where his car was parked. You wonder how a guy probably the same age as you could own such a luxurious car. He's probably some chaebol, you think, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to afford the red beauty.

Luciel opens the shotgun door and you get in, careful not to touch anything else. You sit still while he starts the ignition, and you two were silent the whole time he was driving. It was thirty minutes later when you realize that you haven't told him your address. You were about to enter your address on the GPS when you see that he's in the right direction. You whip your head to look at him. He shrugs, eyes still focused on the empty road.

"I have to know where every single member of the RFA lives. Safety reasons."

You don't bother to reply, leaning back on the backrest and closing your eyes to rest. You open them again when you hear Luciel saying "We're here". You turn to look at him and thank him, giving him a small smile that he doesn't return, before you step out of the car. You watch as he drives off, the taillights getting smaller with each passing second.

The next time you were asked to log into the messenger, you see Luciel online. After debating with yourself for a couple minutes, you decide to send out a simple "Hey Luciel". The whole chatroom went quiet for a second before it exploded with messages, most of them from Yoosung, about you finally breaking your silence in the messenger. Kang Jaehee sent an "It's nice to finally meet you, Park Joohyun" which you reply with a "same here". Yoosung tells you that it's nice to finally be able to talk to you in the messenger.

"Hey hey Joohyun~" The message Luciel sent had you smiling despite of yourself. You reply "Hey ^^" and wait for him to reply.

"Nice to see you gracing the messenger with your presence~" he replies back. You bite your lip to keep your grin from getting wider, some part of you wondering why talking with Luciel like this would put a smile on your face.

"I had to. I mean, you should at least sound like me the next time you try to reply to my friends."

"lol" The three letters had you wondering what you were going to say next. Fortunately, the redhead sent another message. "What did they say?"

"They thought I was high." Luciel sent out another lol and the others (Yoosung and Zen) wondered what the two of you were talking about. The conversation ended when Rika entered the chatroom. Rika has ordered you to complete a transaction and deliver the goods, this time with Yoosung. He gave you (or maybe it was for Rika) a thumbs up and told you not to worry. It'll be as smooth as the last. Zen joked about being jealous of Yoosung for going with you and the blond replied with a grinning emoji.

Rika goes offline soon after sending you a private message regarding the details and you were left with Zen, Yoosung, and Luciel (Kang Jaehee left as soon as she found out who was going to do transactions this time, claiming she has work to do). You spend a good thirty minutes chatting with the three until Luciel goes offline because he has "things to take care of." You go offline soon after.

* * *

 **A/N: A short update to celebrate my day off~! BTW, anybody wants to edit a photo for this fic? lol**

 **-olympicmayhem**


	5. Wave V

On Saturday Yoosung waited outside your house, wearing a League of Legends shirt under a blue jacket and leaning against a small black car. He gives you a wave when he sees you and opens the shotgun door for you. You enter the car and wait for him to get inside as well. As soon as he slides inside you ask, "Whose car is this?"

He starts the car before turning towards you with a grin. "Would you believe if I tell you that it's mine?" "No." You deadpan, and his lips jut out into a pout. "Fine," he tells you. "it's Rika noona's. I borrowed it just for today." You nod in reply before resting your back on the backrest. The blond turns on the radio and drives out of your neighbourhood.

You arrive at the meeting place (this time just under the bridge by Han River) after forty minutes. You were grateful it didn't take over an hour because you were dying from Yoosung's own version of popular singer Echo Girl's latest single. You see the buyer's car already parked, and when they saw you, a man in his late twenties got out. Like the last transaction with Zen, Yoosung asked you to stay in the car while he completes the transaction.

He gets inside the car as soon as he's done checking the contents of the black briefcase the buyer gave him in exchange of the drugs and throws it in backseat. He gives you a childish grin. "Mind telling Rika we've safely delivered what we need to deliver?" You nod and take out your phone, opening the messenger while Yoosung starts the car.

"What _did_ we deliver?" You ask him after sending the message to Rika. Yoosung shrugs, purple eyes staring straight on the windshield as he tries to weave in through the Seoul afternoon traffic. "Just a bunch of hallucinogens."

You nod and he throws a sideways glance at you before letting out a snicker. "You have no idea what hallucinogens are don't you?"

"No," you say truthfully. "So what are they?"

"Try to guess from the name?"

You scrunch up your eyebrows before giving a reply. "They ummm…cause hallucinations?"

"Bingo~!" Yoosung said with a grin. "So why do you look curious?"

"Well, I need to know these kinda things if I wanna survive in this business, right?" Yoosung nods slowly, absorbing your words. "But you never wanted to be in this kind of business anyway," he adds.

"True," you tell him. "but it's not like your cousin gave me a choice didn't she?" Yoosung lets out a little chuckle. "That's true. I still have no idea why she did it though…" his voice trails off, a small frown carving his features, but it was gone as soon as it had come. "So hey," he said, with a forcibly lighter tone. "I'm meeting my guild after this. Wanna come with?"

You let out a snort before giving him a look. "Come with you to meet up with your geek friends? No thanks. I don't wanna feel left out." He lets out a small pout.

"C'moooooon," he half-whines. "it's not gonna be bad. They're really cool people! Plus, Seven hyung's going to be there!" You perk up at the mention of Seven and the blond gives you a Cheshire cat smile. "Heh. You think I wouldn't notice your budding crush on Seven hyung?" Your face turns crimson and you slap him hard across the shoulder.

"I do not have a budding crush on Luciel Choi!" You hiss at him and he laughs, earning a glare from you, before rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. So are you in or not?"

"Fine," you grumble, slouching back with your arms crossed. "But I'm not going because Luciel's going to be there." Yoosung lets out a snort and you give him another slap across the shoulder.

As it turns out, meeting Yoosung's LoL guild isn't as bad as you expected. A couple of them are even on semi-professional teams that you've heard thanks to Yoosung. They share stories of how they started playing online games and how they all met each other and finally decided to build the guild.

"I told Yoosung that he has the talent to make it to the professional league," a man told you, rubbing Yoosung's head. "but he wouldn't listen to me."

"Ah well," Yoosung starts with an air of arrogance. "I'm too good for professional online gaming…" At this, Yoosung received a smack on the head from the same man who was rubbing it a few seconds ago. The blond rubbed his head before continuing, "and also, the world of veterinary medicine calls me."

Before the conversation could resume, the bell on the door of the chicken restaurant you're in with Yoosung and his friends sounded and you could hear a familiar voice calling out, "Yoosung-ah! I'm here!" The said blond throws you a knowing smile before throwing his right arm up in the air and shouting, "Hyung! We're here!"

The redhead jogged up to you and your company, golden eyes widening a little in surprise when he sees you. "Park Joohyun! He calls your name out, grinning from ear to ear. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"I took her here with me," Yoosung informs him, scooting to make space between you and him. "Sit here hyung." The blond says, patting the space between you and him. You throw your friend a quick glare before grabbing your glass of juice and downing it just as Luciel sits down.

Luciel immediately engages in conversation concerning League of Legends and you try to act interested, even though the sound of his voice sends your heart beating a hundred and twenty beats per minute. His shoulder bumps into yours from time to time and you try not feel too flustered about it.

You give up on the conversation and try concentrate on the food instead, bringing chicken after chicken into your mouth. The food was a great distraction until you realize Luciel was no longer talking and you look up to see him watching you eat with a humorous glint in his eyes.

"Not that hungry Park Joohyun?" he laughs, and you let out a couple coughs as pieces of chicken get stuck in your throat. "Careful now," he says as he pushes a glass of water towards you. You drink, pushing down the food with water, and give him a thumbs up once you're okay. Luciel shakes his mop of red hair, laughing at the same time, and you try to hold down an onslaught of blood from rushing to your face.

"You owe me once again, Park Joohyun." The redhead says after calming down. "How many times have I saved your life?" You let out a shrug, a small smile tugging at the corners of your lips.

"I lost count."

Luciel gives you a pat on the head and returns to the topic at hand (something about latest "skins"). You see Yoosung joining the conversation too, but not before he gives you a small wink. You clear your throat and return to your food, still trying to fight the blush from creeping.

"I'm so full!" Luciel said, outside the restaurant two hours later, while stretching his arms. Yoosung's guild left one by one until only the three of you were left. The blond gives you a grin before turning to Luciel.

"Hey hyung," he says, calling the redhead's attention. "I'm gonna have to return the car to Rika noona before she kills me. Do you mind bringing Joohyun home?" You look at Yoosung before shaking your head.

"No it's okay," you tell Luciel. "I'll take the train. I don't wanna bother you."

Luciel's eyebrows knit together and he wags a finger at you. "No, no," he tell you. "It's getting late and it's dangerous for girls to go home alone. Okay! I'll be your knight in rusting armour and see you safely home!"

You hear Yoosung let out a snort. "Isn't that supposed to be knight in shining armour?"

"Yeah, but that's Zen and I'm not Zen."

"That is the understatement of the century," Yoosung says. "Alright. I'll leave you to take good care of Joohyun. See you guys at school on Monday!" He waves at you both and gives you another wink. You force yourself not to roll your eyes at him and wave back before turning to Luciel.

"Okay knight in rusting armour. Take me home."

"As you wish milady." Luciel gives you a bow and you laugh at his antics. "Follow me."

"Where to?"

"It's time for you to meet my baby." At the word baby your heart felt a little pang but you try to hide the little hurt you felt and follow a few steps behind him. A series of thoughts run through your mind while you walk, you wonder whether Luciel's girlfriend is beautiful or rich or one of his classmates in college or one of those elegant ladies who attend the RFA parties. You were so lost inside your own head you didn't realize the man in front of you has stopped walking until you bumped your forehead against his back.

"Lost in thought milady?" Luciel lets out a low chuckle. "We're here." He took you to a free lot near the chicken restaurant, different cars parked here and there.

"Then where's your baby?" You ask, looking around for any sign of a beautiful lady.

"This is my baby." He said, patting the hood of an elegant Maserati. You let out a sigh of relief before laughing. He frowns and asks you what was so funny but you shake your head and didn't bother answering the question.

"This isn't same car you used to take me home the night we partied." You say, staring at the yellow Maserati. "How many cars do you have?" He gives you a childish grin but doesn't reply, instead opening the door for you. "After you milady." You let out another chuckle before getting in. You were already buckling the seatbelt just as he was about to enter.

"Okay! Shall we go now?" he asks you once he's buckled in his seat. You give him a nod and he starts the ignition. He gives you another grin before driving away. You lean your head back on the headrest and stare at the city lights through the car's tinted window, feeling grateful for this moment with Luciel.

"Hey," you hear from beside you. You turn your attention to the driver and ask him what's up. "Do you mind if we go on a little detour before you go home?"

"Promise me I'll be safe?" you say, jokingly grinning at the redhead. Luciel places a hand over his heart and says, "I promise that I shall protect you, dear princess, with my life!" You laugh, your face turning a light shade of pink when he called you princess.

"Okay. Then I don't mind." Luciel grinned from ear to ear as he swerves left at the next corner. You have no idea where he's taking you but you anticipate it, leaning your head on the window.

He stops the car near a flight of stairs and tells you that you both walk from here. You both unbuckle your seatbelt and step out of the car. The night breeze swept through both of you and you gave an involuntary shudder. Winter was fast approaching.

Together, the two of you take the stairs, Luciel encouraging you and telling you that you're almost there when he feels that you're starting to get tired. You end up in a small park, and Luciel leads to you to the edge, the city landscape stretched out before you. He leans on the railing and looks up, staring at the sky, while you remain entranced by the beauty of artificial lights. "It's beautiful," you softly murmur, and he gives you a sideways glance and a smile.

"You're staring at the wrong scenery." He places a finger under your chin and tilts your head up. Your eyes met the stars sprinkled all over the blanket of night, and you let out a little gasp. You've never seen such a starry night before, never even thought it possible due to the light pollution in Seoul. You hear Luciel chuckle beside you. "See?" he tells you. "You weren't staring at real beauty before." He raises an arm in the air and connected several stars together. "See that? That's the Orion constellation. The three stars forming a line are collectively called Orion's belt." You gaze at the stars he pointed while listening to him tell you the story about Orion and how he was killed by Scorpio.

"You know a lot about this stuff don't you?" You say, eyes not leaving the dark sky.

"I've always been fascinated about the stars. Seeing them up there in the sky…they just seem so free." Something about his voice makes you tear your gaze from the starry heavens and focus on him. You ask him what was wrong but he doesn't answer, your question falling into deaf ears.

"What do you think would it feel like to be one of the stars?" he asks you after a while. You turn your gaze back to the stars.

"You mean to ask, how would it feel like to be a floating rock?" You hear him snort and you bite your lower lip to keep back a smile. "I don't know Luciel. Let me get back at you once I've been reborn as a piece of rock floating in the galaxy."

"Fine." He said, laughing a little. A short silence ensued before he breaks it again with another question. "How do you think galaxies collide?"

"Where are you getting these questions?"

"The universe lent me its infinite wisdom."

You roll your eyes at his ridiculous answer before giving him a shrug. "I don't know. Maybe they get attracted to each other like magnets and then bam!" To show your point, you close both of your hands into fists and bumped them into each other before fanning out your fingers. You turn to look at him and was surprised to see that he was staring at you, those golden eyes unreadable. Your eyebrows knit together in worry and you ask him what was wrong but he doesn't give you a reply.

Luciel snatches one of your hands, both of which were still in the air, and you feel an electric current shoot up from him. His hand is warm, you think, and it doesn't take long for that warmth to spread inside your body as he pulls you into a hug. "This," Luciel whispers, "is how galaxies collide." Blood surges to your face as you ponder what his words mean.

"Come on," he said, "we've stayed here longer than I planned." He releases his hold on you and gives your hand a light squeeze before dragging you back to his parked Maserati. You were dazed the whole journey back, and only came back to your senses when you felt the lack of warmth radiating from him. He had his car door opened for you. You get in, and he enters the car and drives away.

The rest of the ride was a silent blur, neither one of you tried to break the silence. Luciel looks like was lost in his own thoughts, his eyebrow knitted all throughout the ride. Your hand misses the warmth from his but you don't do anything. He stops in front of your house and you thank him and tell him that you'd see him on Monday at school. He only gives you a nod and drives away.

* * *

 **A/N: This would probably be the last update for now. I haven't finished writing the next chapters lol. I'm going to update again maybe once I reach thirty-five pages or something. I'm currently on page twenty-five. But anyway, this is MY FAVORITE PART SO FAR. I'M FANGIRLING? IS IT NORMAL FOR AN AUTHOR TO FANGIRL OVER ONE OF HER SCENES?**

 **And I know that only a few people love _Iridescence_ but I'm not gonna stop writing this until I finish it because I love this work. Whenever I'm busy or in the middle of a writer's block, I always think about wanting to continue this even though I can't. So to those who love _Iridescence_ as much as I do, thank you. It means so much to me.**

 **-olympicmayhem**

 **P.S: look at the chapter title and tell me what you see owo Now I must wait for the new route lmfao**


	6. Wave VI

You check the messenger multiple times the next day but Luciel doesn't seem to have any plans on coming to the messenger. You throw your phone to the bed in disappointment each time. On Monday you were determined to find Luciel, the events on Saturday evening still not leaving your mind. You were distracted the whole day, resulting in a poor school performance. You ask Yoosung for his whereabouts and was disappointed to find out that he wasn't at school.

Four days have passed when you finally catch a glimpse of his brilliant red hair. You were on your way from the 7/11 store near your house when you saw him pass by. You make a split-second decision to follow him, making sure you were a couple meters away from him so he doesn't notice. After about thirty more minutes of following the boy, he stops and so do you. You look around and realize that you ended up at a park not unlike the last. You feel your phone buzz inside your jacket pocket and you fish it out. You see that you received a message from the same person you've been following and you swipe open your phone. The message "So how long are you planning to follow me?" flashed on your screen and you look up to see the smile plastered on his face. Your feet unknowingly brought you closer to him, and you only realize that you were walking when you were less than a meter in front of him. Up close, you can see the dark bags under his eyes, the tired look on his face. You reach out to touch him but stop halfway, not wanting to suddenly seem too close.

"How did you know I was following you?" You ask instead, your arm dropping back awkwardly to your side. He gives you a one shoulder shrug.

"I saw you walk out of 7/11."

"And you didn't bother telling me?" Your brows knit together and he flashes you another smile. You look around again, gesturing at the swings and the slide. "You really love parks don't you?" He doesn't give you a reply, walking instead to the swings. You watch him sit down on one of them and you follow him, taking the one on his right. Your left foot lightly kicks off the ground and you give yourself a little push. The two of you sit in silence like that for a while, the squeak of the chains the only sound breaking the silence.

"So," you start, your fingers clamping around the chains on both of your sides. "Where have you been these past few days?" You don't voice out the fact that you've been looking for him.

"Stuff at home." The redhead doesn't elaborate, his golden eyes staring intently at the slides. You watch him, noting the clenched fists resting on his lap. You decide to let the subject drop, and the two of you fall into an uneasy silence.

He stands up and tells you that he has to get going and walked away, leaving you in the park. You just sit there, frozen in place, realizing a little too late that he has already left. You stay there for a while longer before you leave.

You start to wonder why Luciel is acting weird, and you ask Yoosung why. The blond only gives you a shrug and tells you not to worry about it. "Seven hyung has always been weird," he tells you. But you can't help but worry.

Another month with Rika's drug syndicate and the drugs you used to detest slowly carves its way into your life. You don't use them yourself, but you're becoming accustomed to the people around you who do. Rika has yet to host another party and she has assigned you together with the other female in RFA to contact all guests from previous parties to invite everyone.

You went to V's apartment on Saturday (nobody knows where Rika lives except for herself, V, and the twins) with the short-haired brunette to fix the guest list and become overwhelmed at the sight of at least five stacks of folders side by side together. You hear the brunette sigh beside you and let out a murmur that you perfectly heard. "At least this is better than taking care of a cat." She turns her attention to you.

"You can contact all the people in those two stacks. That's probably around two hundred altogether. I'll handle the three hundred others."

Without waiting for you, the brunette whipped out a silver laptop inside her bag and placed it on the table right in front of the stacks of folders. She opened her internet browser and opened her mailbox before taking the topmost folder on the left stack. You stand there, in awe, as she does her work. "Jaehee is Jumin's assistant so she's very efficient when it comes to this kind of work." You hear someone say beside you and you flinch in surprise. You turn your attention to the blue-haired member of the RFA. He sees you flinch and offers you an apologetic smile.

"Sorry for startling you. But if you have questions then please, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll be right here to help you." His kindness surprised you. As Rika's significant other, you expected V to be scary or bossy or act like those mafia bosses you see on television. But he's nothing like that. In fact, he's the exact opposite. You silently wonder how he ended up in this business with Rika.

"Thank you," you say, giving him a smile of your own. You walk to the seat right next to Jaehee's and plop your MCM bag on the floor, taking out your own laptop.

It took the both of you at least five hours to finish e-mailing all the guests, your eyes tired from continuously scanning the screen. The blue-haired man offered to cook for the two of you for a job well done and you refuse, but V is such an insistent guy that you give in at the end.

You sit at the dining table next to Jaehee and stare at all the pictures hanging on V's apartment. They're beautiful, you think. Portraits and landscapes conveying a thousand words all molded into art in frames.

"V's a photographer." Jaehee informs you, and you turn your head towards her to see that she is looking at the photographs as well. "He's famous to the first-class people around the globe, which is one of the reasons why we have so many guests. V showcases his art at our parties sometimes. Maybe he'll do it again this time."

"They don't know that the party is for drug-dealing?"

Jaehee shakes her head. "No. Well, not all of them. Some of the party guests don't realize that Rika's Fundraising Association is a drug syndicate. They think they donate to charity when in truth, they donate to keep funding Rika's weed farm. I guess you can still call it charity if you think of all the homeless people Rika has given jobs to in her weed farm. They all think of Rika as their savior."

You absorb this new piece of information. You remember wondering what the RFA could be funding for, and remember Luciel not giving you a straight answer.

"Where is Rika's weed farm?" You ask Jaehee. She gives you a shrug. "Only Rika, V, Mr. Han and the twins know."

Another secret. You wonder how many secrets the RFA keeps from its own members, and what they are. You wonder why Luciel knows them. Could Luciel be much more dangerous than most of the members?

"It's a whole different level of depravity you'd wish to never enter," you hear Luciel's voice inside your head say. You open your mouth to ask another question but V comes back with heaping trays of food, and you know better than to ask questions in front of one of the two founding members of the RFA.

You admit that you were getting used to the extravagant parties the organization holds. What you're not used to is the fact that all these people (some of them you even see a lot on television) would initiate conversations with you like you're one of them. Maybe you are.

After an hour and a half of putting up with these people with a smile plastered on your face, you make your way to the exclusive hangout place for the members of the RFA. Everyone was there, with the exception of four people: Rika, V, Zen, and Luciel. Your eyes scan the whole place and you spot his twin brother, Unknown, sitting on one of the plush couches with a drink in one hand and a rolled up piece of paper on the other. You hesitate for a few minutes before making up your mind. Your heels clack on the floor as you make your way to the white-haired boy. He leans on the table in front of him and you notice the white salt-like substance perfectly lined up. The white-haired boy places one end of the stick at the start of the line and the other end inside one nostril. He plugs his other nostril with a finger and inhales the substance. Once finish, the boy straightens up with a shiver and brings his glass of wine to his mouth, taking in big gulps of the wine.

You stop in front of him but he doesn't seem to have noticed you, and upon closer inspection, you see that his mint eyes don't have focus. You sit beside him as he takes another gulp of his wine. You watch him have another go at the substance before you greet him.

"Hi," you say, but he doesn't look your way. He didn't seem to have heard you even, so loud was the music blaring inside the room, that you had to repeat your greeting, shouting this time. He stares at you with those unfocused mint eyes and you see familiarity pass through them. He points the rolled up piece of paper at you. "You're the new girl the stupid redhead has been blabbering about."

You stare at him for a moment, not sure how to react. Luciel has been talking about _you_? You realize that the white-haired boy is waiting for an answer and you give him a little nod. You lean closer to him, inhaling the scent of wine coming from him, and ask him for his twin's whereabouts. The boy beside you answers you with a shrug and offers you a glass. You refuse, telling him that you don't drink and he gives you a snort.

"Bullshit" he says, and shoves the glass to your hand, before pouring the red liquid. "Drink that, and it'll take your mind off your problems and place you to paradise." You stare at him with a frown and tell him that you don't have problems and he snorts and takes another sip from his glass. You stare at the wine and realize that yes, you do in fact have a problem, a problem that involves his brother. Unknown must have seen through you.

You shift your gaze back at the mint-eyed person and he nods, as if inviting you to drink, and you place the rim of the glass on your mouth and tilt it upwards. The liquid runs a line down your throat and you pull the empty glass away from you, coughing. You hear the boy beside you laughing, and you start to laugh as well even though there was nothing funny. The boy offers to pour you another glass and you comply. Soon, the two of you have finished two bottles of expensive wine, laughing as you both do it. You find that Unknown is a fun person to talk to, even though he seems to hold Rika in high regard. You purse your lips, not wanting to speak your thoughts about Rika lest you ruin the nice atmosphere.

You and Unknown finish two more bottles of wine and you feel the world getting blurry around you. Your words become a slur. You feel a shiver run down your spine, like somebody was watching you, and you divert your attention to the small number of people in the room. Your eyes land on a certain redhead staring at you with his brows furrowed, but you can't find it in you to care about him right now. You give him a grin before the world tips sideways and the last thing you remember is golden eyes behind yellow and black striped horn-rimmed glasses.

* * *

 **A/N: An update! Yay! It's not long though, and most definitely not the best chapter I made. I felt that it was rushed towards the end, but I guess it was because I was in a hurry to finish the chapter. Oh well… did you guys like it though? I hope you did. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW AFTER! THANK YOU!**

 **-olympicmayhem**


	7. Wave VII

You wake up to sunlight streaming through your window the next morning. You groan and pull the blanket up to your head, hiding from the light. You hear the door creak open, someone's footsteps making their way to you, and you mumble something like "Mom, it's too early." One side of the bed dips down as the person sits down on the corner.

"You know, I never expected to see you get drunk," You hear the person say. "Or drink for that matter." You mumble something before realizing something: the voice does not belong to your mother. In fact, it doesn't belong to a female.

You sit up straight and immediately you feel the world spinning around you. You close your eyes and feel strong hands grip your shoulders. "Careful there," the voice tells you, and you realize that it is familiar, although the hangover makes it hard for you to think of who.

Once you feel the dizziness subsiding, you open your eyes and is met with the sight of messy red hair over striped horn-rimmed glasses. "Luciel? What are you doing here?" You ask, surprised. You notice something different in him; his eyes have lost its usual glint of mischief. He doesn't give you a reply and you avert your gaze from him, scanning your surroundings for the first time.

The room you're in is simple yet elegant, with walls painted white and a marble replica of the Venus de Milo to one side. The bed you're in has two fluffy pillows, the comforter red. There were several computers completely covering one wall, all of them open. The floor was strewn with red cans of what you can assume are Dr. Pepper and empty Honey Butter Chips bags.

"Is this your room?" You ask, turning your attention back to your companion. Something caught in your eye and you look down to see a cross resting on his chest. He stands up, the bed moving due to the absence of his weight.

"Let's go get you some breakfast." He says, giving you a sideways glance. You stand up and notice for the first time the oversized red tee you're wearing. Your eyes widen and you stare at the man in front of you. "Where are my clothes?" You ask, trying, and failing, to keep the panic out of your voice.

You see the corners of Luciel's lips tilt upward into a small smile. "It reeked of alcohol so I had one of the maids wash it. We can't let you go home smelling of alcohol now can we? And don't worry. I had the same maid help you change into the clothes you're wearing. I didn't see anything. Now, let's go?"

Luciel told you what happened after you passed out at the party during your walk to the dining table. He told that he carried you all the way to his room and you try to stop the blush from creeping up your cheeks.

"You never told me the mansion where the RFA holds its parties is yours." You tell him instead. He gives you a look you can't decipher. "It's not." Your brows furrow but he doesn't see it.

You arrive at the dining room and it is as lavish as you expect it. Paintings of fruits hang on the wall, and flowers adorn the center of the table. Occupying one of the chairs, to your surprise, is V. He gives you a gentle smile when he saw you enter with Luciel.

"Good morning, Joohyun." He greets you. You were about to greet him back but "What are you doing here?" stumbled its way out of your mouth instead. He lets out a light chuckle and tells you to take a seat. You do, taking the chair right across from him, Luciel taking a seat two chairs away from you.

"This is where I live," he tells you, the gentle smile never leaving his face. "The apartment you went to the other day is a place I go to when I want to be alone."

"Like artists wanting to be alone to get their inspiration," you say, and V nods. "Then why does Luciel live here?"

V glances at the said boy at your question and you do the same. Luciel is busy swiping through his phone screen, headphones placed on his head. He didn't seem to hear to hear your question. V turns his attention back to you.

"Luciel and his brother live here due to…. Reasons I can't tell," V's mouth twitched downward momentarily before returning his smile and you think that maybe you just imagined it. "You don't have to worry, Joohyun. It's not something that concerns you." It was probably V's way of telling you to mind your own business.

"How are you?" he asks you, concern filling his blue eyes, and you can't help but smile. "I'm fine, thank you for asking. Just a little headache is all." The food arrives and your short conversation with V ended.

You shift your attention to your food—scrambled eggs and some toast, as well as soup (probably to cure your hangover)—and was about to take a bite out of your toast when you hear something scraping across the floor and you look up to see white-haired Unknown taking a seat right next to you, dark bags prominent under his eyes.

V holds his cup of coffee up to him. "Good morning Ray." Your head turns towards the boy beside you and blink. "Ray?"

"It's my name." he tells you, motioning for one of the maids to bring his food. "You don't expect my name to be Unknown, do you?"

You stutter a no and return your attention back to your food. Unknown, or Ray, doesn't speak again. You finish your food in no time and just wait there, not knowing when you're allowed to go. You find yourself checking out the different paintings hanging on the wall, the chandelier hanging on the ceiling. There's a beautiful garden view behind V, and you were tempted to go, but Luciel calls for your attention.

You find him already standing up and you stand up as well. He craned his neck to the side and you nod, standing up and thanking V for the delicious breakfast. Seven walks back down to his room and you follow behind him.

Your clothes sit on Luciel's mattress and you make your way towards it and was just about to change when you remember that you're not alone. You turn around to see Luciel leaning on the closed door with his arms crossed, an unfathomable expression on his face.

You open your mouth to tell him to give you a little privacy to change when he tells you "Leave RFA." You frown, not understanding where this is suddenly coming from.

"You told me that there's no turning back when I enter." You tell him slowly.

"And I'm telling you to leave. Listen to me."

"Why?"

Luciel closes his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose. "It's not safe here Joohyun."

"Why?" You ask again. "Why is it not safe for me? Yoosung's in this organization. Zen is in this organization. They both don't seem to be in danger. _You're_ in this organization. How is it dangerous for me?"

"You're not like the rest of us." Luciel tells you, taking a step towards you. "We're…all corrupted and you're not. We chose to be here. Rika just forced this upon you. Leave."

You shake your head, clenching your fists. You don't understand why Luciel wants you to leave. If there is danger, then shouldn't he explain?

"I don't think that's the real reason why you want me to leave," you say. "The other members would've already told me if something's wrong. Yoosung and Zen would've told me. But they haven't. Why do you really want me to leave Luciel?"

"How stubborn can you actually get?" Luciel asks, letting out a dry laughter. "Fine. I don't care about your safety. Frankly, I don't care about you."

You stand there, in shock, Luciel's words stinging your chest. He continues. "You irritate me, Park Joohyun. I have no idea what Rika sees in you. You're just girl Yoosung and Zen decided to bring to the party. Someone dumb enough to go to the said party even after all the warnings Yoosung has given you. I hate you."

You didn't realize the tears falling from your eyes until one of them drips down your chin to the floor. You quickly get rid of the liquid, and ask in the steadiest voice you could muster, "What about that night at the park? Where two galaxies collided and time stopped."

Luciel turns away, opening the door. "You weren't the first woman I brought there. Don't consider yourself special. Change into your clothes and leave. Don't return to this place."

He steps out the door, leaving you inside the room. You just had time to say "I'm not leaving the RFA," before he shuts the door and you fall to the floor in a heaping mess of tears. 

* * *

**A/N: Another update to celebrate me writing up to 20k+ words on this fic! This is the longest one I've written both here and on asianfanfics. I know this chapter is short, but this is how I want it to end lol Was it good? Bad? So bad you wanna hurl yourself out the window, never to return to this site again? Tell me what you think! Abuse the review section as you please!**

 **And shush don't spoil me with the V route. I have yet to play the good ending ahahahahaha. Forgive the grammatical errors and other stuff. I didn't have the time to scan through this. See you on the next update~!**

 **-olympicmayhem**


	8. Wave VIII

You mostly stay locked up in your room the next few weeks. Your parents were out for a whole month of vacation in Jeju, leaving you alone, and you spend your limited independence finishing whole bottles of soju. You haven't spoken to any of the RFA members after Luciel's outburst, although Yoosung and Zen left you about a hundred messages and fifty missed calls.

At school you mostly spend your time alone, not even bothering to catch up with your other friends. The dark circles under your eyes became more prominent, and you try to keep it hidden using your eye cream. You see the worried look in their faces but you just can't find it in yourself to care anymore.

You still see Luciel—walking down the school hallways, eating in the cafeteria, sleeping in the library—and you find yourself hiding every time, his last words to you ringing in your head.

"What happened the night after the party?" Yoosung interrogates you. You were on your way to class when Yoosung saw you, and he runs after you, successfully cornering you. His amethyst eyes seem to burn holes into your head, trying to get the answer out of you. You turn your gaze away from him and muttered "I'm going to be late for class."

"Something happened to you, Joohyun." Yoosung continues, not having heard what you said, or maybe he just chose to ignore it. "You've been acting strange since the party. _Drinking_? Park Joohyun, you never drink. And after the party, you seem to be more withdrawn. It's making Zen hyung and I worry. It's making your other friends worry. So spill Joo. Maybe it's something Zen hyung and I can help you with."

You try to push him away but he held his ground. You feel yourself getting angry then. Who does this guy think he is? You tilt your head up to look at him straight in the eyes and he flinches. "Get out of my way Yoosung," you tell him, the words enveloped in fury that the blond can feel, his eyes turning into a mixture of fear and concern for you. You push him away again and this time he lets you. You walk to your class, Yoosung watching your retreating figure, wondering what on earth happened to you that changed you.

You were in the library trying to do some schoolwork, a few days after Yoosung tried to corner you, when Ray decides to take the chair right across from you. You weren't aware of him at first but he cleared his throat to get your attention and you looked up, meeting with mint green eyes. For a second you thought that it was Luciel, and you were about to say something when you remember: Luciel hates you. You had to bite your tongue to stop yourself from saying the name Luciel. Instead, you say "Ray."

Ray gives you a smile so reminiscent of his own brother that made your lower lip tremble. You give him a small smile of your own, hoping he doesn't notice your trembling lip, but it seems that nothing escapes those mint green eyes. His smile grew wider.

"What are you doing on such a fine day?" He inquires, leaning over to read your homework.

"Ummm... it's my homework."

"Are you planning anything after this?" You stare at him and he stares back at you, smile never leaving his lips, an eyebrow cocked upward questioningly. You briefly wonder what this guy could be planning.

"I have class after this," you reply slowly. "Why?"

"Would you want to ditch class and go to paradise with me?"

"I have class," you repeat.

"And I'm asking if you want to ditch it to go to paradise."

You narrow your eyes at him, suspicious. You've seen how much illegal substances this guy takes and you wonder if he's under the influence right now. He continues to smile at you and you realize that the smile he gives you is actually very different from the one his brother used to give you. Ray gives off a more…sinister feeling. His smile gives you an unpleasant tingling sensation in your spine.

"What paradise are you talking about?"

He gives you an elegant shrug and a reply: "That depends on what kind you need." You open your mouth to turn down his offer but before you can get the words out of your mouth, the white-haired person sitting across from you adds, "If I were you, I'd take the offer. I will show you the world my brother tried so hard to keep you away from."

You close your mouth, gulping your own saliva. With your heart hammering inside your chest, you ask "What are you talking about?"

He gives you a smile and stands up and stretches his arm out to you, giving you a cryptic "You'll see." You stare at his hand, remembering that day in Luciel's room, when he told you he hates you. Tears form in your eyes, clouding your vision, and you wipe them away with one hand.

You decide to go with Luciel's twin. If Luciel won't give you answers, you think, then maybe his own brother will. You feel Ray's hand envelop yours, and he pulls you out of the library.

You both end up in the mansion, and as Ray leads you through hallways, you remember Luciel. You pass by the redhead's door and you stop in your tracks, wondering if he's inside. Ray calls for your attention and you turn your attention back to his twin brother, stopping in front of a door not far from the redhead's. There was no sign to indicate that it was Ray's but you're sure that you're standing right in front of his room. He turns the knob and pulls the door open and you catch your first glimpse of the room.

His room isn't that different from his brother's. One side of the wall was filled entirely with computers, his bedsheet dark blue instead of red. A pair of Ionic columns line the floor-to-ceiling window. You see a vase of velvet blue roses resting on top of a table in the boy's balcony.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" You hear Ray's voice beside you. You shift your attention back to him and was startled to see gentleness in his usually icy stare. The look he's giving the flowers warms your heart. "But we're not here to check out the roses, are we?" he continues, the soft gaze in his eyes gone. You find yourself wishing that the moment lasted a little longer.

Saeran pushes you inside his room. You hear the door click close behind you and Saeran tells you to sit anywhere you want. You sit on the edge of his bed and wait for him as he rummages inside his enormous closet.

He joins you a few minutes later, a package wrapped in manila paper on his hands. He saw you staring at it and gives you another one of his smiles, laying the package on the table inside his room. He motions for you to join him and you did, voicing out your question of what was inside the package. "This will take you to paradise," is all he tells you before long fingers ripped open the package. It was a box, and inside it are two packets of the same kind Rika orders you to deliver. You look at him in shock, and shake your head.

"Are you crazy?!" you cried. He looks at you, gives you one of those cigarette-looking sticks you see Zen and Yoosung use to inhale the substance, and you adamantly refuse.

"Do you want my brother telling you that you don't belong with us?" he asks quietly and you wonder how he knows.

"He's right you know," he continues, goading you on. "You definitely don't belong with us. All of us in this organization are crazy in the head, some more than others. We make look normal to you, Joohyun, but we're not. You've seen Zen and Yoosung use them don't you?"

You don't answer him, knowing deep in your heart that he's right. Luciel himself has told you, hasn't he?

" _You're not like the rest of us. We're…all corrupted and you're not. We chose to be here. Rika just forced this upon you. Leave."_ Those were Luciel's exact words.

But do you want to be like them? Zen and Yoosung, both of them don't. You remember Yoosung's uncharacteristic fury at his own cousin the night the blonde announced you to be their organization's newest member. Luciel's words echoed inside your head. _"You're not like the rest of us."_

A steely look settles on your eyes as you finally decide. Ray saw the look on your face and gave you a smile, once again offering the white, cigarette-looking stick. You give the stick a look. That stick, which is only slightly longer than your middle finger, will take you to a path darker than you can imagine, and you're not entirely sure if you can go back. But you know that at the end of this dark road, Luciel will be waiting. _Paradise_ , Ray calls it. Surely it's not all bad. Your arm stretches out and your fingers curl around the stick.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello hello~ It is I, olympicmayhem, back at it again with another chapter. Not much Luciel in this chapter as you can see… actually, no Luciel at all lmfao It's all baby Saeran~! Yay~! Leave comments and suggestions? Thanks for reading!**

 **-olympicmayhem**

 **P.S: THIS FANFIC HAS REACHED 30 PAGES IN MY WORD FILE! MUCH WOW. THIS TRULY IS THE LONGEST FIC I HAVE EVER WRITTEN.**


	9. Wave IX

Your session with the boy with the white hair ended a few hours later, your head throbbing with all the illegal substances you've taken. Ray offers to let you stay the night and you plan to refuse, but the effects of the marijuana must be wearing off and you can barely make out your surroundings anymore, and everything was such a blur and since when did there have been two Rays?

Ray lets you have the bed. The part of you that was still sane wanted to tell him that you can sleep on the couch but your body won't listen to you. You plop face-down on the soft, comfortable bed, and within minutes, you were sound asleep.

You wake up at the crack of dawn, head still throbbing but less than before. You take a look at your surroundings. The white-haired boy is crashed on his couch, one arm dangling, his feet propped up on the armrest, and you felt a pang of guilt. The couch doesn't seem like a comfortable place to spend the night.

Trying not to make a sound, you slowly get up from the bed and grab the blanket you've been using. You creep over the boy and placed the blanket over him. You stare at his face for a while and think that he looks more angelic while sleeping; like all the problems just melt away from him. You wonder if this is what his brother looks like when sleeping.

You shift your gaze around the room after a few minutes, trying to locate your stuff in the dimly-lit room. You find your bag lying at the foot of the bed and you pick it up, slinging it on your shoulder, before you quietly exit the room.

You were a few paces from Ray's room when you hear a door open behind you and someone called out your name. You turn around and find him, the redhead who caused you so much misery the past weeks, swiftly making his way towards you with a furious expression. He grabs your wrist as soon as he is within arm's length of you and you try not to flinch as he forcefully (was it forceful? You were more than glad to let your feet walk) pulled you to his room.

He turns his full attention to you as soon as he shuts his door and you can see the furious look in his eyes. You try not to cower in fear.

"What are you doing here?" He asks in a deadly whisper, those golden orbs piercing you, compelling you to tell the truth. You tell him that you were here to visit his brother, trying to maintain eye contact. It wasn't a lie, you tell yourself. It just wasn't the whole truth. You can tell that he wasn't convinced with the way his eyes narrow, but something caught his eye and his attention focused on something on your left. You blink.

Before you can react, Luciel grabs a few strands of your hair hanging on the side of your face and brings it close to his face. Too late, you realize what was happening, his eyes widen and you stare at the little bits of powder-like substance conveniently stuck to your hair. You wonder how they even got there in the first place.

"Marijuana…?" his incredulous voice shifts into something scarier as he grabs both your shoulders and shake you with so much force you were so sure you would've fallen to the floor had he not have such tight grip on you. "What were you thinking?" he asks, his voice getting louder with each word. "Drinking was one thing, but marijuana? What is wrong with you? Did you stop and think about the consequences? Do you ever _think_?"

You don't answer, your gaze on the floor, as you try to fight off the tears welling up in your eyes. You're not even sure why you're on the verge of tears. Maybe it's the marijuana in your system making you more emotional. Maybe it's the pent up emotions you've tried so hard to keep locked up in the corner of your heart the last couple of weeks threatening to spill. You have no idea. Maybe he's right. Maybe you really never think of your actions. After all, wasn't it you who told Yoosung you wanted to go see what their fancy party looked like? Wasn't that curiosity the one that led you to become this miserable mess?

You stare up at Luciel, at those endless pools of liquid gold that are his eyes, and you remember that night you spent with him at the park with all those silly questions and the hug that seemed to last an infinity, yet wasn't long enough for you to fully register.

"Luciel," you whisper his name, and the anger in his eyes vanish, replaced by something incomprehensible. "How do you think galaxies collide?"

With all the effort you have left in your body, you push him away and walk out. He didn't try to stop you. He didn't run after you.

You stayed in your room the next day. Yoosung and Zen stopped trying to reach you.

It was late November when you received a text from Rika. You were plopped down on your bed, drinking a bottle of soju while watching an American film on your laptop when your phone vibrated beside you. You press the pause button and stare at your screen for a long time before opening it.

It's been a while since the blonde contacted you and you thought (hoped) that she had forgotten about your existence. You were, of course, proven wrong just now. The message contained nothing more but an address but you know exactly what it means. You stand up and close your laptop, finishing the bottle of soju and stashing the now empty bottle under your bed along with its brethren (you've been consuming a lot of alcohol lately that your body has grown accustomed to its daily intake of at least five bottles a day).

You choose whatever clothes you find inside your closet and end up in an ensemble of a white button-up, black sweater, and faded blue jeans. You look at yourself in the mirror. The two layers of clothes hide the amount of weight you've lost the last couple of weeks due to lack of food intake. Your eyes look swollen and your cheekbones have become more apparent. With a sigh, you grab your coat hanging on your closet and head out.

The address the blonde leader of the RFA sent you turns out to be an address to an apartment. You make your way inside and stop once you reach the correct room number. Your phone vibrates inside your coat pocket and you fish it out to see another message from the blonde beauty. This time it contained a series of numbers, and you assume that they're the password.

You punch the numbers in and pressed the asterisk after and the door unlocks soon after. Leaving your boots by the doorstep, you step inside and take a look around the place. Lots of drawers were placed here and there, some of them open. You can see a flat screen television on the wall and a white couch in front. Three computer sets were currently running. You walk towards the computers, about to check them out.

"Welcome, Joohyun." Rika's soft voice sounded from behind you and you turn around to see her emerging from another room.

"Rika!" You exclaimed, flustered. "Why did you bring me here?" She gives you an angelic smile that sent shivers down your back because nothing about this woman is even slightly angelic.

"How do you like this place?"

"Ummm…" you stumble, trying to find words "It's okay… I guess."

"I'm glad you like it." She raised both hands up. "This will be your new temporary home."

You stare at Rika, wondering if you heard right. "Excuse me?"

"This will be your new home," she repeats. You ask her why.

"I want to give maximum protection to the person who will help me lead RFA."

* * *

 **A/N: So the pieces of this story are finally coming together in my head, although I can't say how many chapters this is going to have. All I can say is that, we're** _ **not**_ **halfway done with this. I hope you'll bear with me until the end? It's been 23k+ in my file, and yes, I keep all the chapters in one word file. I hope the story's not too rushed? Please tell me if it is and I'll try to slow it down. And as usual, there are grammatical and typographical errors here and there because my lazy ass is too lazy to edit. WRITE REVIEWS! Authors love it when readers review! Thank you and have a nice day!**

 **-olympicmayhem**


	10. Wave X

You were in shock the whole time Rika gave you the tour to your new apartment. It was a cozy one-bedroom apartment with just about everything you need. You see that Rika has prepared for everything, the computer even has all the files from the previous parties and all the transactions ever made by the organization.

"Why?" you ask the blonde after the tour. "Why would you give me this _huge_ responsibility? I'm still new, and there are others in the organization more suited for this job. And what about V?"

Rika gives you her signature smile, hands clasped in front of her. "Because you're perfect for this," she tells you. "Yoosung has told me a lot about you. You're smart and hardworking. Besides, you follow my orders very well. As for V, he's very busy right now and cannot be of any help to the organization." She placed a hand on your shoulder, gives you a reassuring squeeze.

"You're perfect for this Joohyun. Trust me the same way I trust you."

That did it. You've always wanted to be trusted. Luciel didn't trust you but here was Rika, the woman who made you part of this organization without your consent. The woman who may hide secrets far more than you've ever imagined behind those angelic smiles, giving you the one thing you crave for from Luciel, or anybody else for that matter. And you didn't want to fail her. You give her a nod and her face brightens up and she pulls you into a tight hug.

You move into your new apartment at the end of the week, convincing your parents that it was better for you to move there. The apartment's nearer to school, you tell them, so that there will be no need for you to rush to school.

Rika herself helped you move your stuff: a couple of clothes, toiletries, and your school stuff. You were beyond surprised upon seeing her at your front door, but you could use all the help you can get. Once inside her car she asks you if you've told anybody where you will be living and you shake your head. You haven't been in contact with any of your friends, Zen and Yoosung included, and there was no way you would contact Luciel.

Rika nods, her eyes focused on the windshield, and she tells you that it would be better if none of the other RFA members know where the apartment is. "Except for Ray," she tells you. "We can trust Ray with the location."

It should strike you as odd that Rika plans to hide this to the other members but during that time, you were more focused on trying not to let Rika down and impress her. You ask her why Ray knows about the move and she informs you that Ray will be monitoring the CCTVs surrounding the apartment complex for your own safety.

In a matter of weeks, you seem to be able to be getting your life back on track. Rika has been coming by a lot to teach you everything there is to know about the RFA. Your job was easy, she tells you. All you need to do is keep in touch with all the organization's patrons, as well as monitor transactions made by the other members. If there are parties, it's your job to invite the guests.

Once, Ray came by to tell you about the CCTVs inside the apartment, and you weren't thrilled to find out about them.

"Can't I have some privacy?" You ask, appalled.

Ray gives you a smile and tells you not to worry. The bedroom and bathroom don't have CCTVs installed inside, and it made you a little more at ease.

"You look better," he comments after giving you a once-over. You give him a huge grin, which made your facial muscles tighten. Your face must not be used to smiling, and you briefly wonder when the last time you genuinely smiled was.

"Rika has been keeping me busy."

He gives you a nod, as if in understanding. "Rika has helped a lot of people." His smile was gentle, and you remember the bouquet of blue roses in his balcony. You wonder what Rika did to make him smile like that.

"I almost forgot," says the white-haired male as he rummages through his jeans pocket. "Rika told me to give you this." He holds his hand out and gives you a small packet of the white substance you took with the boy the other day. You stare at the package.

"Rika gave you just enough to escape to paradise, but not enough to overdose you," the boy continues, placing the packet in your hand. "Use it when it gets too tough. That's what she taught me to do."

You put the packet inside your pocket and give the boy another smile. "Thank you, Ray. I'll use this when… life gets too tough for me to handle."

"You know that you can also give me a call anytime right?" he blurts out, and you notice a light tinge of pink color his usually pale cheeks. "I mean, I know that I'm not close to you like Zen hyung and Yoosung. Heck, we never even talked until that night you asked me about my brother. But I'll be here when you need me. I'm not like my brother, I promise."

You didn't know what suddenly came into you. You pull him close to you, your arms wrapping around his waist, breathing in the scent of roses, an unexpected scent, but it suits the boy quite perfectly. You feel his arms wrap around you after he gets over the shock of the sudden physical contact, enveloping you in warmth.

"Thank you," you whisper, in a voice barely audible for him, but he catches it. You don't see it, your face buried on his shoulder, but the boy smiles his most gentle smile yet.

"You're welcome," he whispers back, and you feel the gentle rumble of his chest as he says the words. For the first time ever since that night with Luciel at the park, you finally felt at peace.

Yoosung and Zen noticed the change. You smile more, laugh more. You feel their confusion towards your change in attitude (again), but they don't try to pry. They were mostly just relieved that you were back to the way you were before.

You and Luciel never spoke to each other again, and you pretend like he doesn't exist at all. Funny, now that you have Rika to guide, the redhead seemed like an insignificant speck in your life. Or like he was never a part of your life at all.

You mostly hang around with Ray now. Whenever you're not with Zen or Yoosung, Ray keeps you occupied. You don't bother trying to bridge the growing gap between you and your other friends. Who were they anyway? Only Zen and Yoosung and especially Ray can truly understand what you went through. And Rika. Of course. She was the angel who brought the light back to your slowly darkening world.

"C'mon Joohyun. Tell us where you moved into!" Yoosung complains one Saturday morning. You, Zen, and the blond were hanging out in his apartment like the good old days when the two began bugging you about it. You won't tell them of course. You promised Rika it'll be a secret between the three of you. The only other people who know about it are your parents and you made them swear not to tell a soul about it. They were curious about the secrecy of your apartment's address and you had to make up a lie and tell them that you didn't want people randomly barging in unannounced. It would mess up with your studies.

"Sorry Yoosung," you tell the blond, and he gives you those puppy dog eyes and a pout. You laugh lightly and reach out to mess with his hair. "It's a secret."

Yoosung lets out a "hmph" as he tries to fix his ruined do while Zen asks you why you are so secretive about your address while taking a selfie with a can of Dr. Pepper. You purse your lips.

"I can't tell you that either."

The narcissist brings the can of soda down and turns his attention to you, those hypnotizing red orbs of his narrowing to slits.

"You're not doing anything illegal there, are you?" His voice was laced with suspicion.

"You mean, not more illegal than what we do in the RFA?" You ask, raising one eyebrow. His face splits into a grin.

"Touché, Ms. Park."

You feel your phone vibrate inside your pocket and you take it out. The screen opens up to a text notification from Ray and your face immediately brightens. This doesn't escape the observing eyes of the two males with you.

You open the message. It was simple. Ray was just asking you about your day and you reply with something like: "It's good. Just hanging out with Zen and Yoosung. You?"

"Was that Unknown?" You hear Zen's deep baritone and you look up after hitting send.

"Hmm? Yeah. It was. Why?"

"What about Seven hyung?" Yoosung asks with a frown. Your face darkens a little at the mention of Ray's twin. "The two of you were getting along so well." You don't bother to give them a response, leaving them to wonder what happened between you and Luciel.

You and Zen end up playing several rounds of Tekken in Yoosung's Play Station, the said blond busy with his phone. After several more rounds of Zen winning and you challenging him again and telling him that he just got lucky and that you would bet him in the next round, Yoosung suddenly exclaims, "Seven hyung's coming here!"

You and Zen were too busy bickering and hadn't heard what the blond said. He repeated the sentence and you both stare at him, your mouth gaping wide.

"Wh-what did you say?" You stutter out your question, wishing that you heard wrong.

"He's coming here."

You scramble for your bag, muttering a quick "I forgot to do my homework." The two males tried to stop you, confused at your actions, but the only thing you care about right now is leaving the apartment before the redhead shows up.

You were almost successful at getting away too. Your hands clutch the door knob and you twist it open, the other two following behind you. You push the door open and see him, the redhead with the golden eyes, with his fist up in the air and a surprised look on his face. The look on his face would've been funny, and you might have laughed at it too, if you found the whole situation funny.

Finally, he clears his throat, and in a strained voice, says "Hello, Joohyun."

* * *

 **A/N: The tenth chapter is out! Hurray~! I'm not gonna say much today, just wanna thank the people who read this ^^ I also encourage you to write a review after~ Reviews motivate me to continue this ahahaha. Sorry for the typographical and grammatical errors. Hope to see you guys in the new update!**

 **-olympicmayhem**


	11. Wave XI

You all end up eating dinner at a chicken restaurant not far from the blond's apartment. The four of you are sitting on a round table, you squished between the blond and the actor, with the redhead sitting beside Yoosung. The air around the four of you was filled with palpable tension, and you try to focus on your food as the three boys fall into uneasy banter. You find yourself staring at him from underneath your long lashes, and was surprised to find him doing the same, golden eyes clashing with another set of golden eyes. His stare invites you, pulling you in, and you were tempted to just walk up to him and crash your lips to his soft pair. The words he told you reverberated inside your skull, magnifying tenfold, and you bite your lip to keep the waterworks in place. It won't do anybody any good if Zen or Yoosung sees you crying. You quickly drop your gaze back to your plate of chicken and let your soft, brown locks fall from your shoulders, creating a screen between you and him. You quickly dab at your eyes before anyone can see the few tears that still managed to drop despite your pleas.

"Yah, Joohyun. You've been silent for a while now. What's going on inside that pretty little head of yours?"

You look up to see Zen staring at you, his hypnotic red eyes filling with concern. You give him the most reassuring grin you could muster and tell him that you were just thinking about a school project due the week after next. He nods, clearly not convinced, but you silently thanked him for not asking any further. Out of the corner of your eye you see the redhead stare at you, and you try to pretend you didn't notice the worry that ran through his face for a split second as you return to your plate of chicken.

You were thankful when the whole ordeal was over. The four of you paid for your food and bid your good-byes and you turn to go to the opposite direction the rest of your friends were taking when you feel long digits wrap around your slender wrist. You turn around and was met with the familiar black hoodie. You look up and was surprised to see the pain right there in his gold eyes. You had to stop yourself from holding his face, from hugging him. _Why does he look so pained?_

His free hand caressed your cheek and you find yourself leaning towards his warmth despite your mind shouting at you to stop. He leans in close to you, close enough to feel his warm breath against your face, and you close your eyes and wait. But the kiss didn't happen. You open your eyes again, confused, and look at him to see that the cold expression he has adapted is back. He loosens his grip on your wrist and lets out two words in a harsh tone: "Go away."

Confused and in pain, you free yourself from his grip and blinked back tears. You walked away, wondering if the pained expression you saw was just a trick, and curse yourself for falling for it. When will you stop hurting yourself for him? Why do you keep hurting yourself for him?

You hadn't realized that you'd been crying until you saw your reflection on the window of a music store. Angrily you wipe your tears and felt inside your jeans pocket for your handkerchief. Instead, you pull out a white packet. At first you were confused to see the innocent-looking packet and wondered how it got there. Then you remember the packet Ray gave you. Quickly, you stashed it inside your pocket before anyone would notice, and your legs began to run back to your apartment.

You lock the door once you get inside and quickly made your way to the bathroom, where you know Ray hasn't installed a CCTV. You closed the toilet and laid several pieces of toilet paper on top before you take out the packet. You stare at it for a long while before finally coming to a decision. You ripped the packet open and spread it out on a single file on the toilet paper and looked around for something you can use to inhale the white substance. Your eyes land on a box of soap and you quickly cut it and rolled it.

You sit on the bathroom wall and face the toilet, before inhaling the substance through one nostril. You can fill it coursing through your nose, burning its path, but a sense of euphoria is quickly taking place, and before you know it, you find yourself laughing. You were laughing and shouting and everything is all so funny and you feel like in cloud nine and you didn't want to leave so you open the gate to happiness once again. You were so absorbed in euphoria, laughing by yourself inside that bathroom, and forgetting why you were in so much pain. What was there to be sad about? This is what Ray was talking about. This is paradise, and in there, nothing would ever be able to hurt you.

You call Ray the next day, asking for more. He was by your doorstep within an hour, a smile on his face and a package wrapped in manila paper on his hand.

Ray became your personal dealer. Whenever you give him a call, he comes with a package that'd usually last you a week. Sometimes he stays and the two of you would have a session together. You learn how to balance your grades and your life in RFA. Your lies become flawless, Yoosung and Zen don't even worry about you anymore.

It was one Sunday morning, a few days after Christmas, when you called Ray to deliver a package for you. He decided to stay for a while so you ripped open two packets.

"Joohyun," you hear him call out your name. You look up, high on euphoria, and gave him a stupid smile. You see him hesitate before moving. You realize a second too late what was going to happen. He crashes his lips onto yours. It takes you five, six seconds, and then you're kissing him back, your mind shutting down as you let instinct (or is it the drugs?) take over. You feel his slender arms wrapping around your waist as he pulls you closer to him, and your bodies collide. A small part of you can't help but wonder if this is what Luciel's lips would feel like.

You feel him pulling away and you can't help but feel disappointed. "Let's take this to the bedroom," he says in a raspy voice, and you felt your head nod. He stands up, pulling you along with him, and you wrap your limbs around him and he attacks your face and your neck with hot kisses and you feel his legs moving and you can hear the door creaking as it opens and closes but they're all just background noises to you. What's important is the need to be satisfied. One by one the clothes were thrown away and the both of you are naked on the bed with him hovering on top of you and it's lips on lips, limbs on limbs, chest on chest. Whispers of sweet nothings were exchanged your moans fill the room as heat wraps against heat. He's pounding on you, fast and hard, and it's painful and it's pleasurable and you scream out his name. You both fall to the bed after, exhausted, and you fall to a deep sleep.

You wake up, several hours later, and find that you are inside your bedroom, naked. The light isn't on and it was nearing night time, but through the dark you can see another naked figure on the bed, the white of his hair still visible even through the dark, and you cover your mouth to stop the gasp from escaping your lips. _What have I done?_

* * *

 **A/N: I know I've been gone for a long time but I'm finally back with a new chapter! Sorry it's short : ( I kept you guys waiting and upload a short chapter. I know. I'm frustrated too. But ooohhhh Saeran ooohhh MC ahahahaha. Let me know what you guys think by filling up the comments section below, yeah? Until the next chapter! As always, I thank you all for reading!**

 **-olympicmayhem**

 **P.S: I will post another chapter after I get a review l o l**


	12. Wave XII

It took another hour for the white-haired boy to wake up. By then, you were at your kitchen, heating some leftovers from the night before, and was so lost in your own thoughts that you didn't hear the soft footsteps.

"What's for dinner?" His voice jolted you back to reality and you flinched, then flinched again because of the sudden pain that shot up from where he pounded against you.

"Just some leftover chicken and pizza from last night," you tell him without turning around. He hovers just a little bit before leaving the kitchen. You hear the television being turned on.

Dinner was an awkward affair. You try so hard not to make eye contact with the person in front of you. He tried filling the silence up with small talk but the barely audible answers he receives makes him stop. You know that the two of you will have to talk about it, but you don't know how to start the conversation. The two of you finish dinner in silence and he retreats to the living room while you go wash the dishes, trying to delay as much as possible.

When there was nothing else to be done, you make your way to the living room and sit beside him, watching the evening news, but not really focusing. You gather your courage and finally call out his name. He shifts his attention towards you.

"Listen," you start, eyes not leaving the television screen. "About what happened earlier-" you were cut off by his question.

"Did you like it?" You turn your head to look at him, wondering if he was kidding. But there aren't any traces of mirth on his face.

"Ray, what are you-"

"Did you like it?"

You close your eyes and take a moment to reply. Letting out a sigh, you open your eyes again to tell him no. Mint eyes met golden ones and you know that you can't lie to this young man. You give a weak nod, and you swear you could see the corners of his mouth twitch ever so slightly upwards. "Then that's all there is to it," he tells you, his attention turning back to the television.

It became an unspoken rule between the two of you: what goes on inside the apartment, stays in the apartment. Ray's visits became more frequent, and it was a myriad of drugs and sex with him. You don't want to admit it but you start to crave for him on the nights he isn't with you. At school, the two of you meet like any normal friends, greeting each other with a small smile and a wave, but you can see the hunger in his mint eyes, and you feel a sick kind of pleasure in knowing that you are the only one who can satiate his hunger.

It was one lunch break when you find yourself crowded in a table with Ray, Seven, Zen, and Yoosung. You are sandwiched between Ray and Yoosung, and as usual, try to pretend Seven isn't with you. You try to listen to Zen and Yoosung's conversation because it was pretty funny to hear the white-haired man berate the poor blond on his sleeping schedule and choice of diet (Zen must be in full-mom mode again, you think), when you feel a hand that is most definitely not yours on your lap. You try to ignore it but the guy beside you isn't going to let you have your way. You feel long digits squeeze your lap before making their way up and you whip your head to him to see a little smirk painted on his face, proud of himself for getting your attention. The two of you have an unvoiced argument that you would eventually lose, and you sigh before standing up, muttering something like forgetting to do your homework for next period. Ray stands up a few moments after and announces that he's done eating before joining you. The other two didn't seem to mind you both leaving but you don't see the redhead's gaze on you and his own brother as you leave.

As soon as you guys find an empty classroom, Ray doesn't waste any more time. He pins you on the wall and attacks your neck with fierce kisses that leaves you yelping. "You're crazy," you tell him. You feel his breath against your skin as lets out a low chuckle.

"Don't leave any marks, Ray. I don't want to make up excuses."

"Saeran." You blink, wondering if you've heard right.

"What?"

"My real name is Saeran," he tells you, straightening up to look at you. You see the vulnerability in his eyes. You cup his face and smile. "That's a beautiful name, Saeran."

The smile he gives you is enough to make your heart claw its way out of your ribcage, and you wrap your arms around him as he hides his face at the crook of your neck.

"I've never told my real name to anyone before," he murmurs against your neck. "Rika told my brother and I not to tell anyone our names." You wait for him to continue but he instead starts kissing your neck. You let out a soft sigh, letting him have his way with you.

"So what's really going on with you and Unknown hyung?" You choked on your chicken and Zen had to give you a glass of water to drink. You were hanging out with Yoosung and Zen at that chicken place Yoosung dragged you to before to meet his guild. It was after school and the three of you decided to grab some chicken.

"You okay, Joohyun?" The actor asked as he patted your back. You give him a nod and a smile of gratitude and he answers back with a smile before turning his attention on the LOL player with a stern expression. "Kim Yoosung, you don't ask people sensitive questions while they're eating!"

The blond raised his hands up in surrender. "That wasn't even a sensitive question!"

"Then what do you call it?"

"A _curious_ question!"

"Alright enough!" You exclaim, getting in between the two. You turn to the blond on your right. "To answer your question, there is nothing going on between me and Saeran." Yoosung looks at you with a dumb expression.

"Who's Saeran?"

Your eyes widen and you put both hands over your mouth, silently cursing your big mouth. Yoosung narrows his purple eyes at you. "Is that Unknown hyung's real name?" The expression on your face must have told him the answer.

"Oh so you're sharing names now?"

"Please don't tell anyone!" You plead, clutching both his hands. He gives you a cheeky grin and promises not to tell anyone. You turn to Zen and make him promise the same.

"I promise, princess." He tells you with a wink. You playfully roll his eyes at his attempt at flirting but thank him nonetheless.

"Why'd he hide his name though?" You hear Yoosung ask. You give him a shrug and tell him about Rika telling the twins to hide their names and the blond gives you a confused expression. "I wonder why noona told them that," he muttered, more to himself.

"Rika hides a lot of stuff," Zen tells Yoosung. "You know how she is."

"Yeah but I'm her cousin." The blond argues. Zen sighs, clearly not in the mood to argue about the topic with Yoosung. You change the subject to school to change the mood and Yoosung slumps in his seat, telling you both about his problems with grades. Zen goes on to nag the blond and said blond continued to whine. You let out a little giggle at your friends' banter.

The next day you find yourself being dragged by a certain redhead. You just arrived to school when you felt a large hand wrapping around your wrist. You didn't have enough time to complain when he started dragging you to the back of one of Yonsei's buildings.

"Would you look at that," you say as soon as he releases his hold on you. "You tell me to stay away from you and yet you keep dragging me around everywhere."

He raises one perfect eyebrow but does not comment. "What's going on between you and my brother?"

You raise an eyebrow of your own. "What happens between your brother and I does not concern you," you tell him, not trying to keep the coldness from your voice.

"It does," he tells you, those golden eyes staring deep into your soul. You try not to be deterred as you stare back at him, silently willing your heart to stay silent. "Because he's my brother."

"He's not you."

"That doesn't make him any less dangerous."

"I need to understand the danger you always tell me, Luciel." You say, frowning. "I need you to explain." He shakes his mop of red hair and grabs both of your arms, shaking you a little.

"Please," he pleads, desperation seeping into his voice. "Just stay away from us, Joohyun." You can feel the helplessness in his gaze and you reach out to touch him but he scoots away. He frees your arms and starts to walk to his building but you grabbed onto his oversized jacket, stopping him.

"Luciel please," you murmur, hearing your own desperation lacing your voice. He shrugs you off and walks away, leaving you in the shadow.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back! Sorry it took so long. I have to admit, there were a lot of things that kept me distracted like Ray's route, the new Trials of Apollo book, Miraculous Ladybug, thesis, college graduation and stuff, but I haven't forgotten about this! To be honest, reading all your reviews kept me motivated to continue this so hit that review button and start typing about what you think of this little fanfic! Lololololol I want to thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and followed this story so far. I swear, you guys are the best [insert Seven's heart eyes sticker emoji]. I'll end the notes here. Forgive the grammatical errors! I didn't proofread hahaha. See you next chapter, lovelies!**

 **-olympicmayhem**

 **p.s. i may be able to update again in a couple days hahahaha 3**


	13. Wave XIII

You spend the rest of the day distracted, and by lunch, you decided to just skip the rest of the day altogether. You hop into a cab and give the driver your address before shooting Saeran a quick text telling him you'd be busy the whole day so he wouldn't worry about you. In all honesty, you just don't want to see him right now because seeing his face would remind you of his brother. You know it's unfair for the white-haired boy but you don't think you can bear seeing that face for now.

You keep to your room, knowing that it was one of the two rooms Saeran's eyes wouldn't reach, and decided to play EXO on full blast. You close your eyes and try to absorb the music and kick thoughts of Luciel out of your mind. You fall into an uneasy slumber soon and wake up a few hours later to the sun setting.

You grab your phone lying innocently beside you and boot up the messenger, squinting as your eyes adjust to the sudden illumination by your handheld device. You enter the chatroom to check if the blonde leader of the organization has anything new to say only to find the C&R CEO and the young actor in the middle of a fight (Yoosung once told you about Zen and Jumin not getting along and you've always thought their arguments a little amusing).

You think that nobody in the chatroom has noticed you enter until Han Jumin greeted you. Zen stops in the middle of his tirade to give you a warm welcome (that wasn't completely without flirting) and you greet the two of them back, telling them not to mind you and continue with their discussion. You let out a small giggle as you press send and watch Zen flooding the chatroom with messages that contain words of adoration for you and your company while the man with the jet-black hair gives out compliments to his adorable cat. Yoosung enters the chatroom and joins the fray as he complains about his failing grades and boring professors and Jumin reminds him of getting his grades back up if he wants a shot at his company's internship. Not long after, his own assistant comes online to berate him on missing out her calls and informs him on the several stacks of documents on his desk waiting to be reviewed.

You watch as it all unfolds, laughing silently at their antics. From an outsider's perspective, they seem like a group of normal people having fun chatting with friends; not the kind of people you'd suspect to play with illegal substances. You were just about to say something when a notification bar appeared, announcing the arrival of 707. Your thumbs freeze midtype and you stare at your screen as Luciel spams the whole chatroom and annoy everyone, all traces of seriousness from earlier gone. You plead to go unnoticed by him but luck doesn't seem to be on your side because the blond LOL player chooses that time to ask you where you've been the whole day. Luciel stops his spam and Zen backs up Yoosung, asking if you're sick.

You briefly consider not replying but knowing your two friends, they would just send you a hundred messages and try to reach your phone until you answer. You send a short reply, giving the same excuse you've given Saeran. Even if you don't see him, you can feel Luciel's eyes boring into the screen. He sends a series of messages, joking about ruining your school record, and you reply back with a joke, wondering how Luciel was able to act like nothing happened this morning when you can't even keep a cool face. You quit the messenger and was about to get up when you feel your phone vibrate in your hand, your ringtone filling the silence of the room. You check the caller ID and is surprised to see Luciel's name. It takes you a while to answer, sliding the accept call button across the screen and placing the device against your ear.

"Hello?" You can hear your own voice shaking and you mentally slap yourself. _Don't let him get to you_ , you think. _He doesn't care about you._

"Can you meet me?" The voice over the phone is somber.

"Why?" You ask, letting a bit of bitterness seep into your voice. "I thought you said to stay away from you?"

"Joohyun," he sighs, clears his throat. "Please?"

You let out a sigh of your own. "Fine. Where?"

"Remember that park we went to? Where galaxies collide?" You can imagine his small smile he says this, memories of a not so distant past flashing in his mind. You nod, before realizing that he couldn't see it.

"Yeah, I do."

"I'll meet you there in twenty minutes."

"Okay."

He hangs up. You scramble to find a decent outfit, something that would be stylish yet keep you warm from the cold January night. You settle on an off-white coat and a red scarf wrapping around your neck. You wave at the camera in the living room, knowing full well that the mint-eyed boy is watching.

You arrive at the park five minutes late. The redhead is already there in his usual spot, staring at the vast heavens. You think about the last time you were here, when everything was still right between the two of you.

You walk up to him, your feet crunching on gravel. You know that he can hear your footsteps but he pretends not to, so engrossed was he to whatever he was doing. You weren't surprised to see him carrying a bong. Of course, you think. He's also one of the members of the RFA.

"So why did you ask to see me?" You ask, not quite looking at him. He gives you a sideways glance, and doesn't bother replying, instead asking one of his questions.

"Do you love me?"

Your eyes widen and you feel like the ground has been pulled under your feet. You didn't expect that question. You _never_ expected that question to come out of his mouth.

"Wh-what?" You stutter as your mind comes up with a hundred different scenarios to get out of this situation. He turns his fractured gaze towards you and you know that there's no excusing your way out of this. You take the bong and lighter out of his hand and stare at the contents inside the glass. You take a deep breath and place your mouth in the mouthpiece as you light the bowl. Once satisfied with the amount of smoke, you turn the lighter off and place it in Luciel's ready hand. You let the contents of the glass consume you, thinking that maybe if you were as high as your companion, you would be able to answer his question without difficulty.

The two of you watch the cloud of smoke you exhale mingle with the cold January air. "Of course you know how to use a bong," you hear him say as you inhale yet again. "Saeran must've taught you how, huh?" He takes the bong from you and breathes in cannabis as well. The two of you take turns breathing in the substance in silence for a while before he breaks it with the same question you left unanswered.

"Do you love me?" This time you think you're ready to answer. Breathing out smoke from your mouth, you try to formulate a coherent sentence but came up with one word: "Yes."

He doesn't answer, and you think maybe he hasn't understood your answer, the drug clouding his ability to think. You turn to face him and find that he is staring back at you with an incomprehensible expression on his face, the same expression you saw in Saeran just the before when he told you his real name.

The thought of Saeran brought you back to your senses. Saeran, the boy who is helping you get over the person standing right in front of you. The boy who wants to come off as strong but deep down, is actually the sweetest boy you have ever met. You convince yourself that nothing is going on between you and Saeran and that what you guys have is just fun, casual sex but the look in Saeran's eyes yesterday tells you otherwise.

You push the bong into Seven's hands. You know you can never take your words back but you mutter a quick apology as you leave him there, confused. You hear him calling out to you but you ignore him, legs making their way back to your apartment.

You find your apartment open which surprised you. You remember locking the door before leaving to meet up with Seven. You enter, feet moving as quietly as they can, and see the light turned on in the kitchen. Preparing for the worst, you enter the room and brace yourself when you find Saeran with a bag of food. He looks up when he hears you enter and gives you the most breathtaking smile you have ever seen.

"You were gone for a long time so I thought I'd bring you some dinner so you wouldn't have to cook," he says, then frowns. "Or did you stop by somewhere to eat on your way back? If so, then you can just eat this tomorrow morning."

You didn't answer, just make your way to him, and you wrap your arms tightly around his waist, breathing in the scent of his back. You feel his body tense up a little before loosening in your hold, patting your hands.

"Is there something wrong?"

You shake your head, the thought of his brother and the question that came out of his lips coming back to your mind.

"Saeran?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you love me?"

A heartbeat.

"I do."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back with another chapter! Just after updating two days ago! Aren't you guys proud of me? I know I am. Ahahahahahaha how are you liking it so far? Is it good? Bad? So bad you wanna hurl me out the window?**

 **As we are at a crossroads, I have a question to ask you all now. Saeyoung or Saeran? Make sure to vote in the reviews. I have it all planned out for the twins and the end wouldn't change whoever wins but would you rather be with Saeran or Saeyoung?**

 **And not to worry! We will be having another party soon! I'm not saying it's in the next chapter but soon! Maybe we'll even find out more secrets regarding the RFA and Rika? Ehehehe**

 **I hope you enjoy the latest chapter! Sorry for all the grammatical errors! Didn't really scan through it lolol Don't forget to vote vote vote!**

 **-olympicmayhem**


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